Melbourne Victory was left to rue missed chances in a 1-1 draw with Geelong in the NPL 3 Victoria on Sunday.
Summary
Victory had the majority of the chances at Epping Stadium and Adem Duratovic opened the scoring early in the second half.
But Dominic Swinton found an equaliser for Geelong, with Victory squandering numerous late opportunities to take all three points.
Geelong threatened early as Alec Solomons had a goal ruled out for a handball in the third minute before Victory went down the other end, Nishan Velupillay’s effort saved by Kieran McDowell before hitting the crossbar.
Victory controlled the remainder of the first half, threatening on numerous occasions.
Gianluca Iannucci fired wide from 20 yards after a one-two with William Wilson in the 11th minute.
Iannucci was inches away from an opener in the 25th minute, his header from Velupillay’s cross from the left hitting the crossbar.
Duratovic almost got on the end of a Velupillay cross before the half-hour mark, while Iannucci forced a low save from McDowell from 20 yards just prior to half-time.
Victory opened the scoring on the break eight minutes into the second half, Duratovic finishing after an Iannucci pass.
While the host had looked comfortable, Geelong equalised through Swinton, who intercepted a pass in defence before beating Marko Bulic in a one-on-one.
The late chances fell to Victory, with Velupillay twice unable to convert in the closing stages, while Jack Morton forced a good stop from McDowell with a 25-yard effort.
General Manager – Football Drew Sherman’s post-match thoughts
“Disappointed with today’s result in another game that I felt we were dominant and largely comfortable in. One lapse in concentration gifts Geelong a goal with 20 minutes to play, where until that point it had been a matter of whether we could improve our quality in the final third to grab the second.
“Perhaps today we were a little risk averse and although we hit the crossbar twice and created quite a few goalscoring opportunities, we also found ourselves getting into good areas but either lacked the execution quality in our final pass or hadn’t committed numbers to the penalty area.
“Today was a day where we had a lot of players do well but not enough really show us their capabilities. We know that the boys have a bit more to come and as is the nature with younger players we need to reflect, keep learning from our games and improving.”
Under-21s
Victory’s U19s made it six straight wins to begin the season, beating Geelong 2-0.
