Milton Ulladulla had to overcome a hastily arranged trip into Nowra to play Shoalhaven United on Saturday due to weather issues.
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The Panthers were due to host United in three Shoalhaven Football Association matches on Saturday at Lighthouse Oval - until the rain intervened.
The Milton players, in three grades [thirds, reserve and first], a few hours before kick off found themselves heading to United's home ground for their matches.
The third and reserve grade teams, despite their disruptive preparations, started the day well for the Panthers with a 2-nil and 7-1 victories respectively.
Jarrod Murray was in great form in reserve grade with a hat trick, and Fin Twitchen picked up a brace.
The Panthers first grade side just could not make it three-from-three and had to settle for a 2-all draw.
The conditions, as you would expect, were wet and tricky and some of the Panthers' players did not make the last minute trip to Nowra due to family and work reasons.
United, in first grade, pushed the Panthers all the way and held a 2-nil lead at the break.
United's first goal came from nowhere and was a quality finish from about 40 yards out that didn't give the Panthers' keeper a chance.
The home side's second was created from a slip on the muddy surface which left a Milton player on the ground, allowing the United winger to sneak through and get one-on-one with the Panther's keeper.
The Panthers had some chances of its own in that first half, which drew some great saves from the United goal-keeper.
Panthers' coach Nick Palagyi said his team in the first half was not as clinical as it needed to be.
"Where we really let ourselves down was a lack of composure after the second goal," he said.
"We weren't ourselves and tried to force the game, which isn't how we like to play. That was the key thing addressed at half time.
"We just needed to be more patient and composed, to play that one extra pass during our build up and to stop rushing things. We knew goals would come, and our second half was a lot better."
Milton's first came within the opening 10 minutes of the second half from a pinpoint corner from Brent Anderson which Ray Gyorgy smashed home.
The Panthers had to wait awhile for its second goal but they did have a few good chances, including one from an Antonio Lavalle break.
Lavalle was brought down from behind with only the GK to beat and a chance to score was missed.
In the end the equaliser came from the penalty spot after Nathan Avery was brought down in the box.
Brent Anderson stepped up for that one and put it away expertly to make the score 2-all.
The closing stages of the match were frantic.
"We had already introduced additional attacking players and we were pushing as hard as we could, but unfortunately we just ran out of time," the Panthers' coach said.
"We really needed to use that 20 minutes at the end of the first half more productively and had we done that, I'm sure we would have come away with the points."
