THE RAIN IS THE WINNER

Sunshine George Cross and Altona Magic battled valiantly all night long with neither side able to get the all important goal.

Line up: Martin John, Douglas Cameron, Chris Konstas, Michael Sacks, Luke Grounds, Kyle Joryeff, Gary Greenhill, Barry Devlin, Evan Christodoulou (Stuart Nicholson 45), Trent Waterson (George Papadopoulos 70), Fidell Richards (James Blackburn 75). Subs: Ben Cogger, Antoni Pecora.

The massive down pour that commenced prior to the kick off and continued throughout the match turned the Knights Stadium into a swimming pool more suitable to water polo rather than football.
Credit must be given to both teams for trying to play football, but in the end neither side could master the conditions. Last season's champions Altona Magic had the better of the few chances created in the first half, but poor shooting and Sunshine keeper Martin John kept the visitors from scoring. Martin John was at his best keeping a clean sheet stopping long range efforts from several free kicks from just outside the penalty area. The visitors had a strong wind and the driving rain at their backs and adopted a shoot at all times attitude. The Georgies made life hard for themselves giving away free kicks within striking range. Magic's left winger Jose Vasquez caused the Georgie defence several anxious moments but the home team battled well to restrict the visitors to long range shooting. The Magic continued to dictate terms after the break and should have taken the lead at the 56 minute mark when Slave Bozinovski beat the offside trap with only Martin John to beat. The Sunshine keeper came out to narrow the angle forcing Bozinovski to shoot just wide of the upright. The Georgies came more into the game and began raiding the Magic's goal with Fidell Richards forcing Altona's keeper Tomi Tomich into a finger tip save. The ball fell to Kyle Joryeff with an open goal in front of him, but Tomich once again pulled off a tremendous save turning the ball around the post for a corner. Sunshine forced several corners that had the visitors defending anxiously. The Magic almost broke the deadlock when a low free kick from a narrow angle by Pece Siveski struck the bottom of the upright with the Georgie defenders scrambling the ball to safety. The unrelenting rain took its toll as both teams tired badly in the sodden conditions. Neither side was able to break the deadlock and both were glad to hear the referee's final whistle with a point each.
Under 21. SUNSHINE GEORGE CROSS 1 ALTONA MAGIC 1.
Sunshine Georgies managed their first point of the season when fighting back to grab a draw with a goal scored by Liam McDermott. Altona dominated the opening 45 minutes and took a deserved lead. Coach Joe Sweeney was far from happy at the break and told his players so. To their credit the boys responded and took control of the match to gain a share of the points. The downside to this match was the last minute dismissal of Andrew Nabbout for an unnecessary tackle on the Magic's keeper.