Spoils shared in ten goal thriller
Following their recent 2-0 victory over neighbours and rivals Old Bens, Benoni Northerns Football Club’s first XI took on the highly revered Highlands Park, at Northern Areas, on the evening of Thursday, February 13.
The match was Northerns’ second fixture in the Eastern Local Football Association (ELFA) Top Eight pre-season friendly tournament, which pits the top eight best finishers from last year’s ELFA Super League Division One against each other.
In the first fixture of the ELFA Top Eight, Northerns were held to a 3-3 draw against East Sporting, and experienced the same fate on Thursday, in an exhilarating 5-5 draw.
The team’s second encounter on Thursday night was, as described by first team coach Flavio Mariuzzi, “a real humdinger”, with both teams playing in a very attacking manner.
“It was not very good from a defensive perspective, and was an up and down match,” Mariuzzi said.
Northerns went 2-0 up early on, but Highlands came back to go 3-2 up.
Northerns bagged the equaliser to make it 3-3, until their opposition found the net twice more, to establish a 5-3 lead.
The home team, however, attacked with vigour and did not back down, to come from behind and score the two goals that would see the teams end the fixture at 5-5.
“Both teams could have scored late winners, but it wasn’t to be,” added Mariuzzi.
“It was an attacking and open game, which is not really my style of play, but we played a very strong team and will take positives out of the game.
“Firstly, we showed fight to come back from 5-3 down.
“Secondly, we tried out two or three different formations during the match, which is a bit more than they offered.”
At the time of going to press, the team was scheduled to play Luso Africa at home, on the night of Tuesday, February 18.
