![Wolves players celebrate after scoring their first goal of the season. Picture by Wesley Lonergan Wolves players celebrate after scoring their first goal of the season. Picture by Wesley Lonergan](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/4sZx2UeLhML2LRYLyd2FGM/f40fc5ea-9c8f-4c1a-9278-153b20185269.jpg/r0_251_3648_2432_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
It wasn't quite the dream start to his tenure, but Wollongong Wolves coach David Carney was full of praise for his players after they fought out a 2-2 stalemate with APIA Leichhardt on Friday night.
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The Wolves looked on track to deliver the perfect beginning to Carney's coaching career when they led 2-0 at half-time at WIN Stadium, thanks to goals from Takumi Ofuka and former Wellington Phoenix attacker Mirza Muratovic.
However, APIA scrapped back into the contest when Rory Jordan scored early in the second half, before Sean Symons' late strike ensured they departed the Illawarra with a point in hand.
It was an intriguing start to the 2023 NSW NPL season for the Wolves, who had a major overhaul during the off-season following the appointment of Carney as head coach last June.
The hosts had seven new faces in their starting side on Friday night.
The result left Carney with mixed emotions after the match, but he told the Mercury that he was happy with the effort from the Wolves.
"We did well in the first half. The first 10 minutes weren't the best, but after that, I thought we were really good," Carney said.
"Obviously we knew that they were going to come back when they were 2-0 down, and conceding that first one killed us.
''I think if we'd held on for a bit longer, we might have done all right, but they got that momentum and they were always going to keep going for it.
"I thought we might have done enough to go 3-0 up in the first half, but that happens. I'm proud of the lads though, they gave their all, and on another day we might have got the three points. Credit to them as well, they came back in the second half, and a draw was probably fair enough.
"Overall, I'm happy with the performance, there's a lot of positives. I can't fault the lads, they gave everything but we've got to move forward."
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