Bulli and Coniston miss huge opportunity to close down finals pack

There were plenty of opportunities in either half, however the deadlock was not broken until mid-way through the second half thanks to a pile-driving half-volley from Coniston defender Daniel Loe via a scramble in the box following a set-piece situation.

Bulli were forced to go all out attack late on and it was their captain Ben McDonald nabbing his 15^th goal of the season (going back to equal top scorer with Cringila's Peter Simonoski in the process) after some smart work from Sam Davies to set him up.

The draw was not as severe as first expected in terms of finals aspirations due to some shock results on Saturday.

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Helensburgh beat Olympic 3-1, United were held to a 1-1 draw against Tarrawanna and Port Kembla picked up just the singular point against the still winless Rosellas.

As a result, both Bulli and Coniston (20) remain two points behind the finals spots with Port Kembla on 22 points in fifth.

"Both teams played well to be honest. It could have been a lot more goals from both sides," Bulli skipper McDonald said.

"I missed a couple of good chances and their keeper made some great saves as well. But yeah, it's disappointing not to win.

"[When I scored] I just wanted to keep going and get another one. A draw doesn't mean anything in the scheme of things and it was an important game today and it's disappointing. But we'll go again next week and we will just take it week-by-week."

McDonald had two golden chances after his late goal. The striker hit the crossbar from a free-kick and then was put through one-on-one on an angle but placed his shot just wide.

On the positive side for Coniston, the side made made it three games unbeaten following a tough start initially for new coach Franc Pierro.

Other than the Loe goal the team had a number of golden opportunities to win it themselves.

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It took them some time to find their groove but late in the first half Loe had a shot cleared off the line from point blank range in what was the best chance of the half.

Striker Matthew Floro was threatening all the time. Tobias Norval - who hit the post in the second half via an indirect free-kick - said that things were ticking along nicely under Pierro.

"He's doing really well," he said.

"So it's good that it's finally starting to take hold and the results will show.

"I think we did really well carrying on from a win last game. It was looking really positive throughout the week in training and we put in a good performance there.

"Two wins in a row would have been awesome for the morale of the group. But yeah, just very disappointing."

In the other game on Saturday, Albion Park got back to winning form by smashing Corrimal 6-0 to extend their lead at the top of the ladder.

On Sunday, Cringila will be able to go three points clear in second with a win against South Coast.

It will not be easy for the Lions however with United coming off a high of their own after their win against rivals Albion Park in their last fixture.

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