Ballarat Red Devils come up agonisingly short

BALLARAT Red Devils went within the width of the goal line to victory against Altona East Phoenix in Football Federation Victoria state league two on Saturday as a pulsating match ended one-all.

With virtually the final touch of the match, a well-weighted cross from Sam Muscat found Simon Murphy at the back post and, with his header beating the keeper, it was cleared off the line as the final whistle blew.

"We could have snatched a win at the death but it wasn't to be," Reds coach Dale Harris said after the match.

For the first 30 minutes, the Haymes Red Devils were second to the ball and were not anywhere near close enough to their direct opponents in any way. If not for the excellent defensive work of Michael Leslie and Tristan Romein, the Reds would have found themselves a goal or two down at the break.

In reality, Ballarat should have been behind as the crossbar came to the Reds' rescue on 23 minutes and then a shot from 18 metres hit the left post, ran across the line and then onto the right post and away, much to Reds keeper Aaron Romein's relief.

Oddly enough Ballarat had probably the two best chances of the opening stanza, with a near miss from Leigh Sissons and Sam Winch beaten by the keeper in a one-on-one.

Ballarat did well enough to weather the storm from the Phoenix, who were going with a strong breeze, but only two minutes into the second half a howler from keeper Aaron Romein gifted East the lead when he kicked the ball into the back of a Phoenix forward and saw the ball bounce into the Reds' net.

Instead of sucking the confidence out of the Ballarat players it had the opposite effect.

Ballarat looked dangerous every time it went forward and this only increased when Franck Labakohler came on for Charlie King. Labakohler played particularly well in the final 30 minutes, proving a real handful for the big East defenders.

It was a matter of when the goal would come and not if. That goal finally arrived on 63 minutes when Winch hit a dipping free-kick from 27 metres out that crashed against the bar and Josh Romein bravely headed the ball in amongst a flurry of East boots.

"We need to compete from the first whistle and not wait and see what is going to happen," Harris said.

"There is no reason why we can't be in the top three because every club is taking points from each other and if we can put together a good run we will find ourselves right back in the mix."

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