Sport
25 July, 2025
Maryborough Soccer Club earn dramatic draw with equaliser in stoppage time
Late goals from Luke Bucknall and Brett Davey completed an astonishing Maryborough Soccer Club comeback, erasing a two-goal deficit in the dying stages to salvage a point against Victoria Park.
It’s a stunning turnaround considering Victoria Park dominated the blue and whites 10-2 earlier in the season and is a real testament to their competitiveness in the league.
After a competition-wide weekend off, Mary-borough were cautiously optimistic about earning back-to-back wins following their entertaining 6-2 win against Daylesford and Hepburn United in their last fixture.
That optimism took a massive hit when Victoria Park danger man, Ryan Liston, scored a devastating double early, with his first goal coming in the seventh minute, and his second in the 26th minute.
It was Liston’s ninth and 10th goals of the season, putting the blue and whites on the back foot early.
With club leading goal-scorer Julian Callea unavailable for this match, someone had to step up for the blue and whites and fast.
That someone was Maryborough’s 2024 player of the year, Bucknall, who halved the deficit in the 37th minute with a well-taken finish.
Despite some good late chances for both teams, the score remained at 2-1 at the end of the first half, with the blue and whites em-boldened to take some points off a team currently in finals contention.
Both teams seemed evenly matched to start the second half before a familiar foe haunted Maryborough once again.
Harry Waight, who scored four goals in Victoria Park’s afore-mentioned 10-2 victory over Maryborough earlier this season, restored the visitors’ two-goal lead in the 60th minute, giving the blue and whites a mountain to climb.
With time ticking away, Victoria Park began to believe that Waight’s goal would be the dagger. However, the blue and whites didn’t read that script.
A long ball over the top of Victoria Park’s defence was met by Maryborough striker Davey.
Under all sorts of pressure, Davey calmly slotted the ball past Victoria Park goalkeeper Conor McGarry, giving the blue and whites a lifeline with 12 minutes to play.
Looking to alleviate some pressure, Victoria Park pushed for a fourth goal, forcing some fantastic one-on-one saves from Maryborough shot-stopper Jay Murdock.
The visitors remained mostly in control of possession following Davey’s goal and looked destined to see out a tight victory.
That changed in an instant when the ever-persistant Riley Gardam picked the pocket of the Victoria Park defender, finding himself one-on-one with McGarry with two minutes left in the match.
While Gardam managed to get the ball past McGarry, his touch past the keeper closed the angle on the goal, leading to his resulting finish skewing just wide of the post.
With a golden opportunity going to waste, there seemed to be no way back for Maryborough, especially after Mitchell Gardam was sent off for dissent, putting the hosts down to 10 men.
Then, with their last roll of the dice, Bucknall latched onto a hopeful long ball, squeezing past two defenders to get a shot off first-time, which hit the back of the net, much to the jubilation of the blue and whites.
Bucknall’s shot was virtually the last kick of the game, with the final whistle confirming Maryborough’s come-from-behind 3-3 draw.
It’s not the first time Mary-borough has earned a dramatic draw at the death this season, as a 92nd-minute equaliser from Callea earned the blue and whites their first point of the season back in round three against Daylesford and Hepburn United.
Last weekend’s heart-pumping draw ended Maryborough’s five-game home stand, travelling to Scotts Creek Recreation Reserve tomorrow to take on the Corangamite Lions.
The Lions defeated the blue and whites 5-0 when the two teams last met in round five, thanks to goals from Flavien Riviere, Robert Oloko Ayimba and Roman Fachetti.