A dramatic injury-time equaliser from "Supersub" Lee Jones snatched a precious point from the jaws of a Wollongong victory for the Football Kingz at North Harbour Stadium on October 30, as they came from behind to draw 3-3 with a Wollongong Wolves combination which finished this National Soccer League encounter with just nine players on the park. The visitors were good value for their 3-1 lead just after the hour mark, and looked well on the way to handing the Kingz their third defeat of the season. But two moments of madness inside the next quarter hour turned the game on its head, and, buoyed on by a Kiwi crowd well versed in baying for Australian blood whenever trans-tasman rivalries are at stake, the home side came back to garner a point which, on their first half showing, they scarcely deserved. Wollongong weren't slow to take advantage of their hosts' lethargy, requiring just three minutes to open the scoring as the Kingz failed to focus from the first whistle for the second successive week. Neil Harlock's left wing throw-in picked out Scott Chipperfield, who muscled his way past ineffective marking before whipping in a low cross from the byline which whizzed across the face of goal. Matthew Horsley stole in on the far post and steered the ball home to the stunned disbelief of the 4500 paying spectators. The Wolves sought to build on their early advantage, with Horsley again leading the charge in the tenth minute. He was picked out by a measured Paul Reid pass which penetrated the Kingz offside trap, Horsley taking the ball on in his stride before slipping it inside to Stuart Young, whose rasping drive was tipped round the post by Michael Utting. Horsley was again the Wolves' key figure in the 36th minute, as he broke down the right once more. He pulled the ball back for Esala Masi, who cracked a first-time shot goalwards which Che Bunce did well to head off the line. Come the 38th minute, the visitors had doubled their advantage. Again the source was Harlock - strange how foreign-based Kiwis seem to excel against their locally-based counterparts!! His low cross from the left was touched on by Young for Reid, who unleashed a screamer into Utting's top left-hand corner from fully twenty-five yards. Only a fine recovering tackle from Bunce prevented Chipperfield from adding to that tally two minutes later, while Masi was another to go close before the break for the visitors, the Kingz responding with a looping Levent Osman header which narrowly cleared the crossbar just before the interval, following good work by, initially, Jonathan Perry, then Mennillo. A couple of telling words were uttered in the Kingz dressing room during the interval, for they emerged with renewed vigour in the second spell. The crowd got right in behind the Kingz from the 51st minute, but it took a quality goal to enliven their, to then, indifferent attitude to the home team's efforts. A clever clipped pass by Harry Ngata released Aaron Silva in space in Wollongong's penalty area, from where he whipped in a low cross towards the far post which de Jong met with a diving header in the shadows of the crossbar. This proved the initial catalyst for the Kingz much-improved second half showing, for within minutes, only an overhit pass towards Silva spoilt a neatly conceived left-flank foray featuring Ngata, Mennillo and half-time substitute Marcus Stergiopoulos. But the hopes raised by de Jong's strike seemed to dissipate in the 61st minute, as Masi scored a goal out of nothing. Reid released the striker through a static defence, and he somehow found a gap between Perry and Utting to drill the ball across the diving goalkeeper and into the bottom far corner to, seemingly, clinch the points for the visitors, despite their being around thirty minutes left on the clock. After Reid had headed a de Jong shot to safety, Masi turned from saint into sinner with a reckless tackle

from behind on Ngata which whistle-happy referee Matthew Breeze didn't hesitate in punishing with the first of the game's two red cards. The official had been more of an ill wind blowing no good than what his surname would suggest, as his whistle punctuated this fixture with frustrating frequency. On over fifty occasions he found reason to blow for fouls, be they actual or perceived. In the 70th minute, Mennillo picked out de Jong with a gem of a free-kick which the striker headed inches over. Seconds later, the freshly introduced Riki van Steeden found himself caught in possession on halfway by another substitute, Saso Petrovski. The replacement striker streaked clear of the last defender, only for van Steeden to somehow retrieve the situation with a well-timed tackle in the penalty area. Back came the Kingz, and in the 74th minute, the natives once again had reason to be restless. Ngata's free-kick found the impressive Bunce on the far post, from where he steered the ball across goal. Mennillo just edged out de Jong in the race to tap home,  and at 3-2 with sixteen minutes left to play and Wollongong down to ten men, it was "game on" in earnest. Make that nine men a minute later, as David Huxley cleaned out Bunce with a tackle from behind reminiscent of the one Masi executed seven minutes earlier. Referee Breeze meted the same punishment on this occasion, leaving the Wolves to try and hold out a resurgent Kingz combination, not to mention an ever more vocal home crowd, for the last fifteen minutes in classic "backs to the wall" fashion. For the vast majority of this final stanza, Utting was the only player in the Kingz half as the home team laid siege to Wollongong's goal, desperately seeking the equaliser. A thumping Mennillo drive was fisted away by Leslie Pogliacomi. After Utting had saved a breakaway effort from Petrovski in the 87th minute, the Kingz came charging back, only to encounter the pony-tailed presence of David Cervinski. The defender had performed outstandingly well thus far, spoiling many a Kingz attack with sound positional play. On this occasion, this aspect of his play was to the fore again, as Ivan Vicelich closed in on a low Jackson cross with what seemed to be the Kingz last hurrah. But there was still time on the clock, and in the 89th minute, Stergiopoulos thumped the ball forward, de Jong its target. The ball dropped towards the Kingz leading goalscorer, whose first-time lay-off was technically magnificent. The sphere rolled into the path of the on-rushing debut-making Jones, who had only been introduced to the play four minutes previously, and had barely, if at all, touched the ball in that time. He touched it now though, and sent it bulleting beyond Pogliacomi into the bottom far corner of the net, much to the undisguised delight of his team-mates and the massed ranks of Kingz supporters all around the ground. There was still time for the "Comeback Kingz" to actually win it, but Stergiopoulos fired de Jong's lay-off over the crossbar with the last kick of the game. In all honesty, the home team didn't deserve all three points - their first half showing was ample proof of that! That said, Wollongong's indisciplined display was undeserving of the maximum return either. But both teams were well worthy of a point apiece. Kingz:  Utting, Perry, Bunce, Moya (Stergiopoulos, 46), Vicelich, Jackson, Ngata (booked, 11), Osman (Jones, 85), Mennillo, de Jong (booked, 85), Silva (booked, 5) (van Steeden, 73) Wollongong:  Pogliacomi (booked, 74), Souros, Stanton, Cervinski (booked, 73), Horsley (booked, 55), Reid (Surjan, 86), Huxley (sent off, 75), Harlock (booked, 58), Chipperfield (Spencer, 61), Masi (sent off, 68), Young (booked, 18) (Petrovski, 71) Referee:  Matthew Breeze