A late penalty from Jordan Rhodes has stolen an away point for Mandurah City in their National Premier League WA clash against Subiaco at Rosalie Park on Saturday.
Despite having more possession, Subiaco couldn’t convert their chances against a resilient Mandurah City side, who claimed their third point of the season.
Subiaco player-coach Ian McMurray was disappointed his side couldn’t finish off the game.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t win it, we created enough chances to win the game” he said.
“We controlled the game but we didn’t take the chances we created”
Mandurah started out the more positive of the two sides, nearly going ahead in the first five minutes, only to be denied by a great save by Ryan Montgomery.
After a long spell of possession, the ball was crossed early out wide to Ryan Francis, who found Jordan Rhodes on the edge of box.
Rhodes maintained his composure from outside the box as he sent the ball into the bottom corner.
Despite Mandurah controlling the first half, Subiaco evened the scores on the stroke of half time.
Subiaco found their way into the box with seconds remaining in the half, and after a poor tackle on Ian McMurray, the referee had no choice but to give a penalty.
McMurray kept his cool from the spot, giving his side the equalizer as the half time whistle went.
The second half played out in reverse to the first, with Subiaco taking control of the game and open the scoring.
Winning a corner in the 72nd minute, Mike Lawson put in a precise cross onto the head of Rory Feely, who couldn’t miss the goal and put his side back in front.
With Subiaco dominating the game, Mandurah City earnt themselves a penalty against the run of play.
John Lockhart was yellow carded and conceded the penalty in a challenge against Alexander Grayson with both players needing to be substituted directly after the tackle.
Jordan Rhodes stepped up for the penalty and gave his side their second goal and the final goal of the match.
Both sides were subdued at the end of the match, with the news coming in that Alexander Grayson had broken his leg from the previous incident.
Mandurah City coach Doug Hesketh was saddened with the late injury.
“I’m absolutely devastated we lost Alex, we think he will miss the whole season” he said.
“It’s very unfortunate, he was the best player on the park by a country mile.”