Football: Goal-less draws can sometimes be dour affairs, but at Ellis Park on Saturday, the stalemate between Roslyn-Wakari and University was a humdinger of a contest.
Few Footballsouth Premier League games have maintained 90 minutes of high-pressure action and, as the game progressed, it was stoked by the fear that either side would score a late winner.
There was enough goalmouth pressure to satisfy both sets of spectators and box-to-box action almost required the ball to be carried off on a stretcher at fulltime.
University was prancing after its 4-0 win over Mosgiel last week, and Roslyn also had the confidence boost of an away win in Queenstown.
The home side started without injured key defender Chris Fernando, but welcomed back the silky skills of central midfielder Aajay Cunningham.
Filling in for Fernando, youngster Jackson Mitchell looked a composed centreback despite never having played there before.
Varsity coach Luiz Uehara stuck with his winning team, fielding last week's scorers, Peter Rae and Anthony Tarrant.
Adding to the excitement was both sides' willingness to push forward, and leave the odd gap, which required both keepers to show their full potential.
Varsity's Danniel Bechere showed elastic South American skills with flamboyant, arching dives, while the stolid Peter Evans did not put a foot wrong, clutching high balls with ease, and one especially superb full-length dive certainly preserved Roslyn's share of the points.
And, as usual, within the match there were personal battles, as Guillherme Melo struggled to show his range of skills as white shirts arrived at the same time as the ball, and space was minimal.
The tight marking was exemplified by a performance of eternal motion from Sam Mepham, stealing ball and spraying passes, while Tom Connor showed his well-honed tackling skills.
Varsity was well served by former Roslyn player Tim Witten-Sage, who was named Varsity's man of the match, and he was ably assisted by the mobile defensive phalanx of Peter Overmire, Geordie Mansford, Zac Rathbone and Todd Warwick.
Referee Dave Langley also contributed, as he let some shuddering tackles go, and allowed the game to flow.
Both coaches praised their players, and both probably felt they might have won, but at the final whistle, there was more relief than elation.
The final whistle did not quite come quickly enough for Grants Braes, which held FPL leader Dunedin Technical to 3-3 until a goal in injury time rescued Mike Fridge's side, 4-3.
At Sunnyvale, Green Island fired up with a 5-1 hammering of Queenstown. Despite conceding an early goal, coach Malcolm Fleming's side bounced back.
The goals came from another dominant display by Dan Rutter and club stalwart Cody Robinson, with two each, and another from Jessie Wright, while Craig Buddle was man of the match.
Home advantage did not work for Northern, as Caversham slammed in six goals to the Magpies' one, Evan Jones and Harley Rodeka getting two each, and Tim Jackson and Andrew Ridden also scoring.
