This Friday night’s round 19 clash with Melbourne City at Campbelltown Stadium will be the 100th game in the A-League for Macarthur FC.
It’s quite a milestone – and a poke in the eye to the doubters who said they’d fold after a season or two in Australian soccer’s big league.
Bulls won Australia’s version of the FA Cup, and just last Thursday played in the final of the AFC Cup at Campbelltown Stadium.
Despite a 3-2 loss in extra time to the Central Coast Mariners, the Bulls could hold their heads high after an extraordinary effort that included travel to Asia and a host of injuries.
It’s worth remembering that the club’s start in the A-League coincided with the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
The club have achieved a lot in that time, on and off the field.
And while crowd numbers have not been anywhere near what some in the club boasted they would be, the fan base is slowly growing – including an active supporters group, the Bull Pen.
As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so Macarthur FC will have plenty to celebrate this Friday in their 100th league game.
Back to on field matters, the Bulls are fourth on the table with 29 points after their 2-2 draw in Newcastle last night – for which they can thank their two X-factor players, Valere Germain (top) and Ulises Davila (above right.
For almost 70 minutes Macarthur were on the back foot, relying on counter attack to create scoring opportunities.
Then captain Davila, found himself at the edge of the penalty box with ball at his feet.
The Mexican magician looked up, saw a tiny gap between defenders, and the back of the net, where he calmly placed the ball for his eighth goal of the season.
Unfortunately, the 1-0 lead lasted barely 60 seconds.
The home side, determined to make amends launched a quickfire transition that caught the Bulls defence napping – or probably still celebrating their goal.
But at 1-1, Davila wasn’t done yet: with nine minutes to go he was on the ball on the byline when he spotted Frenchman Valere Germain on the other side of the goal.
Davila managed to evade the defence and crossed the ball with pinpoint accuracy and perfect height to Germain, who headed in for 2-1.
This was the Frenchman’s 11th goal for the Bulls.
And just when the Bulls were set to pick up three valuable points, some sloppy defending inside the box resulted in a penalty for the home side.
The sides went into six minutes of added time at 2-2, which was the full time score.
- Friday’s match with Melbourne City will kick off at 7.45pm.
