Port Kembla coach Stuart Beedie and his opposite number, Bulli's Julio Miranda were both left frustrated after their sides played out a 2-2 draw at Wetherall Park on Saturday.
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The Zebras had led by 2-0 at half time, but were reduced to 10 men in the second stanza after Peter Richardson received his second yellow card. Bulli fought back to draw level with around 15 minutes left, but couldn't find the match-winner.
"I was a bit disappointed with that final result. There were encouraging signs for us, but we were disappointed to only get a point," Beedie said.
"They're a tough team, but when you're 2-0 at half time, you'd like to think you could go on with it. And certainly it looked like we would in the first 15 minutes after it, but it wasn't to be. We had the send off and then our backs were to the wall."
Beedie said Richardson "didn't deserve" to receive the red card.
"He had two fouls the whole game, in fact the first one wasn't even a foul and he got a yellow card for it," he said.
"I'll call a spade a spade: if he deserved it, I would admit it. But he did not deserve to be sent off."
Miranda also wasn't pleased with the result, saying it was a game "where we should have probably done a bit better".
"It was pretty disappointing to be honest," the Bulli coach said.
"We keep making some mistakes that are unfortunately leading to goals, which we need to try and rectify because it's obviously put us in awkward positions. After they had a player sent off, we had some good opportunities to get the winner, but we weren't good enough in front of goals.
"I see it as a game where two points were dropped, but we got a point. And a point is better than nothing. It's probably a bit character-building for some of the squad and myself included."
Saturday's draw was frustrating for both sides, who are among a log-jam of teams sitting just outside of the Illawarra Premier League's top five.
It also continues a disappointing fortnight for Bulli, who fell 2-1 at home to Bellambi last weekend.
"The last couple of weeks have been challenging. I think we can do better, and the boys know that," Miranda said.
"They'll be disappointed with that, but there's still plenty of spirit amongst the group. So I'm not getting too concerned over it, there's still 14 games to go. There's plenty of time to rectify things."
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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.
