Southern United have another defensive hero to cheer as they continued their promising start to the season with a 1-1 draw against Wellington United yesterday.
There are good draws and there are frustrating draws — and this was very much in the former category.
Wellington dominated large chunks of the game and had several extremely good opportunities to score.
But, following central defender Hannah Mackay-Wright’s masterclass in the opening round, Southern goalkeeper Lauren Paterson produced an inspirational individual display to ensure her side shared the points.
The last third of the game was the Paterson show as she somehow kept the home side from grabbing a winner.
As they did in their season opener, Southern United made a cracking start to the game.
Georgia Keen saw an early shot go wide as she let loose while falling over.
The opening goal came barely 60 seconds later as a corner drifted past the far post to Keen, who absolutely drilled her shot on a low angle past Wellington United keeper Blair Currie.
Wellington then enjoyed an extended period of dominance and Southern, led by Kelsey Kennard, were forced to scramble regularly to get themselves out of danger.
Natalie Olson had the ball in the net for the home side but was ruled offside, a corner went into the side netting, and Maggie Jenkins had her equaliser rubbed out by the linesman.
Southern’s only real chance in the rest of the first half came when Amelie East-Giles broke clear on the left but her low cross was cut off.
A 1-0 advantage for Southern at halftime appeared certain to disappear in the 48th minute when Amelia Abbott capitalised on a poor clearance.
Abbott’s curling shot was just fine, but it was prodded out by a stunning save from Paterson.
Unfortunately, three minutes later, Paterson was left stranded.
A seemingly innocuous cross from Summer Laskey turned into a more of a shot that went high and through Paterson’s gloves.
Wellington deserved that, as they had played more football.
Southern had a sniff when Abby Rankin charged into the box, but Currie timed her obstruction perfectly.
Olson got completely in the clear in the 58th minute but shot wide, Wellington had a third "goal" ruled out for offside, and Laskey just failed to get on the end of a short pass to make it 2-1.
Southern were under the pump, and when Olson got clear on the end of a through ball and fired off a smart left-footed shot, it seemed three points were heading Wellington’s way.
Paterson, perhaps still smarting from the one she conceded, dove to her left to pull off another superb save.
Olson got clear again in the 83rd minute; again, Paterson was too good for the shot.
Then, with five minutes to play, Southern should really have stolen a winner when Rankin ran clear and squared the ball to Amy Hislop, who should have shot first time but was dispossessed when she dithered.
There was just time — broken record alert — for one more chance for a wide-open Olson, and one more smothering effort by the outstanding Paterson.
Southern United host West Coast Rangers at Logan Park this Sunday.
Rangers beat Central 4-0 yesterday, while Canterbury United and Western Springs battled to a 3-3 draw.
National league
The scores
Southern United 1
Georgia Keen 8’
Wellington United 1
Summer Laskey 51’
Halftime: Southern 1-0.
