Western hasn’t found itself in a lot of winning positions throughout 14 rounds of the Football NSW National Premier League 3 season but on Saturday the Mariners found the front against Fraser Park FC.
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But, in the story of the blue and golds’ season, Western relinquished its 1-0 advantage and, ultimately, walked away with a “disappointing” draw, the club's fifth in 2018, at Jack Brabham Park.
After Jayden Culbert’s goal was equalised by a Daniel Fornito winner in the first half, the two cellar dwellers battled out a scoreless second half where neither side was able to make serious inroads into their opposition’s defence.
Mariners skipper Adam Scimone said another draw was hard to swallow, particularly after Western enjoyed the better of the early running and Fraser Park’s winner only came about after an error in the midfield from the hosts.
“We scored early on but it was a real tug-of-war after that,” Scimone said.
“We came out focused and pushed early and the goal came off a really good set piece play, but we’re our own worst enemy most of the time.
It would have been a massive boost to beat them but ... it’s probably a fair result.
- Mariners captain Adam Scimone
“We turned it over in the mid and they pinched it, and then scored … it’s disappointing.”
The drawn result means Western remains in 13th on the ladder, ahead of only Fraser Park – both teams without a victory over the first 14 rounds of the season.
Still, with a maiden win yet to eventuate, Scimone said it was important Western takes the positives out of the result.
The Mariners face the Camden Tigers at Proctor Park on Saturday and after the black and golds ran roughshod over Western in a seven-goal rampage in Sydney in the first round, Scimone believes his boys should be looking to reverse that result this weekend.
“Look, it’s better than a loss,” Scimone said of the 1-all draw with the bottom-placed Fraser Park.
“It would have been a massive boost to beat them, but they played well in the second half and it was front-to-back after that, they couldn’t break us and we couldn’t break them, it’s probably a fair result.
“But coming off the draw, it does gives us some momentum.”
Scimone said goal-scorer Culbert was one of his side’s best in the Fraser Park draw, while goal-keeper Brock Logan pulled off some tremendous saves despite nursing a hamstring complaint.