The Football Kingz produced one of their greatest performances in the face of adversity at Ericsson Stadium on October 20, twice coming from behind to hold defending National Soccer League champions and current league leaders the Olympic Sharks to a 2-2 draw, despite playing with just ten men for all but the first twelve minutes of the match.      The day's drama started before the kick-off for the Kingz, with goalkeeper Michael Utting tearing his calf muscle in the pre-match warm-up.      James Bannatyne suddenly found himself thrust into the action, but it was his opposite number, Clint Bolton, who was first called upon to warm the gloves, tipping a rasping Chris Jackson drive over the crossbar, after Jonathan Taylor had steered a deep Andy Vlahos corner into the All White's path in the tenth minute of play.      Two minutes later, the Kingz were reduced to ten men, referee Ben Williams, in charge of just his second NSL game, rightly showing the red card to Riki Van Steeden for a professional foul, the home team's defender having clumsily - and needlessly - clipped the heels of the charging Franco Parisi, who was through on goal with just Bannatyne to beat, but who was always going to finish second in the race for the ball.      The striker's awkward tumble saw him leave the field soon afterwards with what has been diagnosed as, at best, a dislocated shoulder. He was replaced by Joel Porter - the last player the Kingz wanted to see entering the fray, given their lightness of numbers.      But before the Socceroo graced the pitch, Bannatyne proved his worth for the first time in the match, denying an eighteenth minute drive from the overlapping Andrew Packer, after a flowing move featuring Parisi and Jeromy Harris, who, with midfield general Tom Pondeljak and the scheming Hiroyuki Ishida, were the pick of the visitors throughout this encounter.      In the 27th minute, the first sign that we were in for a treat came to pass, when the Kingz Chilean international, Patricio Almendra, drilled a free-kick into the defensive wall, then spectacularly volleyed narrowly wide of the diving Bolton's left-hand upright. The Chilean had already indicated that he was in the mood for some fun with some deft touches, and as the match wore on, he proved to be well worth the admission price on his own.      Before he got the chance to produce some of his party pieces, however, the Sharks spurned what, to the point of the half-hour mark, had been the best chance of the half. Pondeljak stole in on the blindside of Hiroshi Miyazawa to latch onto a Harris pass and surge through on goal.      Bannatyne spread himself superbly and swatted the midfielder's attempt to lift the ball over the goalkeeper to safety, a denial which sent a surge of confidence through the Kingz combination, which, to accommodate the departure of Van Steeden, had seen Mark Atkinson switch to a central defensive role, with Harry Ngata switching from attacking spearhead to the right-hand side of midfield, thereby retaining the solid structure of their preferred 3-4-3 formation.      Olympic weren't helping themselves with their penchant for straying offside at any given moment - by the end of the game, the number of times they had committed this offence had climbed into double figures! The Kingz, of course, were more than happy with this situation, given their inferior numbers, and almost got through to half-time without enduring any further scares.      Pondeljak had other ideas on this score, however, only to twice find Bannatyne equal to his attempts to break the deadlock in the dying minutes of the half, the teams heading to the dressing rooms without a goal on the board. That's how it stayed for the first six minutes of the second spell, although it wasn't for the want of trying by the Sharks, who came out all guns blazing. Miyazawa, Jonathan Taylor and Ngata blocked shots from Harris, Porter and Packer respectively, as the Kingz began with a full-on rearguard action in the face of the attacking fury of the defending champions. Their pressure eventually paid off, but it was through a garish mistake by Taylor that it did so. The defender badly sliced a clearance, and Ishida didn't need to be asked twice - he was onto the rebound in an instant, and charging towards the penalty area. Bannatyne careered off his line in an attempt to

save at the Japanese player's feet, but an unselfish square ball to Packer left the striker with time aplenty to pick his spot and open the scoring - Sharks, 1-0, after 51 minutes. Straight from the kick-off, the ball was played back to Bolton, who, on receiving the pass from Paul Kohler, immediately looked to send the sphere soaring upfield. Best-laid plans … twelve yards later, Almendra gathers the ball in his stride, and calmly, but oh so audaciously, chipped home into an empty net from twenty-five yards to level the scores! Bolton looked an absolute picture of despair and frustration - if he'd found a wormhole at that moment, he'd have dived right into it!! But his blushes were quickly spared, because in the 54th minute, the Sharks were back in front. Porter whipped in a free-kick from the left, and as he shaped to clear it, Ngata slipped, thereby guiding the ball down onto the edge of the six-yard box. Harris said thankyou very much, and gleefully tucked home through the legs of the luckless Bannatyne, who stood not a chance with either goal. The game then took on something of a familiar pattern - the Kingz never shirking the challenge, probing and prodding at the Sharks make-up, but finding penetration to be another matter entirely. The visitors, meanwhile, were all too often making life difficult for themselves, playing impatient football when patience and calm, authoritative soccer was essential - how they missed the guile of the injured Ante Milicic on this occasion. In the end, they were made to pay for the errors of their ways, as their first victory on this side of the Tasman Sea again proved elusive. Prior to the key incident, Bannatyne had denied both Harris and substitute Troy Halpin, while shots from Ngata and Jeff Campbell had given Bolton little cause for concern. What did raise the heckles of the visiting custodian was the sight of Almendra standing twelve yards away from him in the 81st minute, placing the ball on the penalty spot. Along with his team-mates, the 'keeper was far from amused by referee Williams' decision to award a penalty for a challenge by Kohler on the Chilean. The official was in no doubt, however, although some of his peers would perhaps have let the incident go. Cue Almendra, and given the way he'd been playing in this match, there was only ever going to be one outcome - 2-2! As suggested earlier, the Kingz player's performance was entertainment personified in itself. Just prior to the equaliser, there was one particular cameo when a towering Bannatyne clearance was dropping from the sky, and Almendra controlled the ball with the outside of his foot, turned and proceeded to take on four Sharks players. They ended up circling their prey, but were simply unable to get the ball off him. You can't teach that - pure skill!! He nearly crowned his man-of-the-match performance with a hat-trick, too, having created an opening on the left flank from which he produced a low, driven effort which careered narrowly past Bolton's right-hand post - a "Dalglish curler" into the untended top far corner of the net would, surely, have brought the house down. As it was, Olympic had ample time left to win it, novice referee Williams, last season's NSL Referee's Assistant of the Year, finding six minutes of stoppage time for the ten men to endure. In that time, Pondeljak set sail with a forty yard run and shot which Bannatyne parried to safety, the ball being cleared to Porter, whose cross was headed wide from inside the six-yard box by Packer, who had the goal at his mercy. It was the last act of the match, for soon after, the final whistle sounded, and 2804 fans sounded like 5608 as they celebrated a courageous performance from the ten men against the defending champions, a match which was easily the Kingz most entertaining display on home turf for many a month. Kingz:          Bannatyne; Van Steeden (sent off, 12), Miyazawa, Taylor (booked, 64); Atkinson, Jackson (Campbell, 72), de Gregorio (Beldham (59) (booked, 84)), Vlahos; Urlovic (Turner, 59), Ngata, Almendra Sharks:     Bolton; North (booked, 77), Souris (booked, 45), Juric, Kohler; Packer, Pondeljak, Srhoj (Halpin, 56), Ishida; Parisi (Porter, 20), Harris (booked, 15) (Durante, 86) Referee:     Ben Williams