After three rounds at home, Lilydale-Montrose United Soccer Club embarked on its three weeks of away games with a trip to Howard Dawson Reserve in Glen Iris, home of St Kevins Old Boys SC.
The seniors, looking to bounce back from a heavy defeat last week to Templestowe Wolves, played out a cagey first half with chances for both teams few and far between, heading into the break goalless.
Early in the second half, St Kevins’ opened the scoring with a fine half-volley from the edge of the box after LMU cleared the ball from a wide freekick.
Lilydale-Montrose responded almost immediately, drawing level just six minutes later through Con Moutafis after a clearance rebounded kindly to the right-wingback, who slotted away his second of the season.
In the final 30 minutes, a combination of wasted chances and St Kevins’ goalkeeper pulling off several fine saves to keep his side in the game meant LMU had to settle for a point.
The performance was a huge improvement from the week prior and a sign the newly assembled side is starting to build into a proper team, despite the disappointment of not walking away with all three points.
The point was enough to bring the club to four points from the opening four games, matching last season’s total points, and is a sign of the improvement through the first team already. The club is currently 10th out of 12 teams on the ladder.
The reserves side went down 4-2 to St Kevins’ reserves, in a disappointing result beguiling the play on the field.
The Thirds went down 2-0 at home to the Somerville, and the Veterans lost 2-3 to Mornington.
