There may not have been anything on offer, but Albion Park and Coniston both showed their premiership credentials on Sunday.
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The Premier League teams - who are set to be among the frontrunners for this year's title - played out a 1-all draw in an IPL trial at Terry Reserve.
In a tight contest, neither side could break the deadlock in the opening half. It wasn't until around the hour mark that Coniston hit the lead through Takayuki Kayano.
About five minutes later, the White Eagles drew level when Cameron Morgan headed home a goal. And that was the final goal scored for the afternoon.
Coniston coach Jeff Allport told the Mercury the trial match was "very competitive but not so friendly".
"But that's what you want. It was really good, hard fought, competitive 90 minutes," Allport said.
"They had all their fresh subs which made a difference in the second half. It was tough for us to stay with them in the second half, but overall, I thought we did really well. It sets us up for the next couple of weeks with two big games for us.
"I was really pleased with their effort in the second half to stay in the game with Albion Park and still create good chances. I think on any other way, we probably should have got over run - but we didn't. Structurally, we stuck to what we wanted to do defensively and created some opportunities ourselves."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
