ALTONA’S perfect run to begin the Vodafone Cup season was thwarted by Preston Lions on Saturday night at Paisley Park.
The Magic, which came from behind to snatch victory in its first two games, had to settle for a 2-2 draw against the Lions after 2005 Golden Boot Anthony Magnacca levelled the scores in the second half.
Earlier, the Magic went a goal down for the third successive match before clawing itself back to a winnable position.
In an action-packed first half, Preston opened the scoring through Pece Siveski in the 22nd minute in front of one of the biggest crowds of the season to date.
Altona was stung into action and equalised through recruit Tomi Razov’s second goal of the season only three minutes later, which put the match back on level terms.
True to form the Magic hit the lead with the third goal of the match in the space of eight minutes when livewire Sash Becvinovski netted his third of the current campaign.
The home side continued to press toward the end of the half and could have gone further ahead, but most importantly it maintained its advantage at the long break.
Preston pushed hard for the levelling goal and came from the penalty spot after Magnacca was felled 10 minutes after the restart.
The final 30 minutes saw wave after wave of attacks from both teams, who pushed players forward at every opportunity to find a winning goal, but neither could find the net and the points were shared.
Despite the result, the Magic remains in the top three of the Vodafone Cup ahead of another home game against Essendon Royals this week.
In other round three games on the weekend, Kingston City thrashed South Melbourne 3-0, Essendon snuck past Sunshine 1-0, Frankston inflicted Green Gully’s third straight loss, Heidelberg recorded its first three points over Bulleen and Melbourne Knights defeated Richmond 2-0.
