Misfiring Lions settle for draw

A Lions player heads the ball away.

QUEENSLAND Lions left Luxury Paints Stadium on Sunday with mixed emotions after spraying several good chances at goals in their drawn match with North Star.

In the only Premier Division 1 fixture played in round three, Johnny Scanlon’s 55th-minute strike, which levelled the match at two-all, was the final time the score keeper would be bothered as both teams were forced to share the points.

One way the Richlands-based Lions could look at it, a draw against quality opposition like North Star, who went into the match two wins from as many starts, was a pleasing result.

But on the other hand, the Lions, who were still hurting from last week’s disappointing result against Rocklea, created the better chances in the game and their poor finishing had coach Walter Oldenburg wondering what could have been.

“We’re creating a lot of chances. They created chances as well, but we had some clear-cut chances but we just can’t put them away,” Oldenburg said.

“It wasn’t disappointing, it was a hard fought game against a quality side.”

On a damp playing surface, the fierce battle saw both teams score in each half, but it was the Lions who had to come from behind both times to equalise.

The game was not without its controversy as Lions’ Jake Schofield and a North Star player were both lucky to only receive yellow cards for infringements during an aggressive opening 10 minutes.

Lions’ goalkeeper, Tom Tainton, also appeared to have been taken out in the lead up to North Star’s second goal, but post match, most of the talk surrounded Lions’ failure to convert plenty of their chances.

Paulo Leite blew a golden opportunity to put the hosts up at half-time when he beat the offside flag to give himself a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, Christopher Kirala but he was denied by an excellent diving save.

Leite later made up for his blunder, when he was given room through the midfield to supply the final pass in Scanlon’s goal.

How Lions’ Mitchell Davis didn’t end up on the score sheet is also a mystery after the thumping right-boot couldn’t manage to put one of his many attempts into the back of the net.

Oldenburg summed up the game from his side’s perspective best while consoling his sombre group on the field after the match.

“Unlucky,” he said repeatedly, while patting his men on their backs. Later on the Lions boss added: “I thought we dominated a little more, we would have been happy with the win, but we got a draw.

“We should have wrapped it up when we scored the second goal, but we just can’t convert our chances.

“You don’t miss goals from six (metres) out from goal, but we missed four – four or five (chances) so we’ve got to learn from that.”