Scrappy game: Williamstown's Dane Garbett sticks a leg in to deny Sunbury's Chris Gatt the ball. Pictures: Matthew Furneaux
SUNBURY United gained a point but dropped further into the relegation battle after a 1-1 draw against Williamstown in FFV state league 3 north-west at the weekend.
Leigh Mois hit the post with a late header that nearly claimed all three points for Sunbury after a second half controlled by Williamstown at Langama Park.
The draw means Sunbury (10th, 12 points) is a point above the relegation zone from Williamstown (11th, 11) and Whittlesea United (12th, 11).
Click on the image below for our gallery of the big game.
Sunbury capitalised on a good first half with James Agius converting a penalty, only for Williamstown to equalise midway through the second half.
Goalkeeper Mark Lewis was called upon a number of times to keep the scores level as Williamstown finished the game stronger, save for Mois's late chance to win the game at the other end.
The bad news for Sunbury came from other venues as relegation-threatened Yarraville beat Cairnlea 1-0 and last-placed Whittlesea United moved three points closer to safety by beating Geelong 3-1.
Sunbury heads to ladder leader Sydenham Park this weekend.
"You look at Whittlesea and Yarraville winning and it's a reminder that we have to win our games and take relying on anyone else out of it," coach Greg Czapnik said.
"There were a lot of half chances, and we limited Williamstown to virtually nothing in the first half.
"It wasn't a great game, you could see it was two teams that just needed to win. They dominated the second half as far as possession was concerned but took a number of shots from outside the box."
Czapnik said his team had played better against the top teams in the division, including a 1-0 loss to Sydenham Park earlier in the season via a late goal.
Langama Park was available for play after Sunbury moved the previous week's match to the state football centre.
Czapnik said while the surface was much improved, playing down the flanks was like running on sand.
"The soil was soft and there was a lot of movement, I would have hated to play on it."
FFV LADDER
STATE LEAGUE 3 NORTH-WEST
1. Sydenham Park (34, +16)
2. Sporting Whittlesea (29, +19)
3. Avondale Heights* (29, +16)
4. Melbourne University (22, +9)
5. North Sunshine Eagles* (20, +5)
6. Hume United (20, -3)
7. Yarraville* (15, -3)
8. Cairnlea (15, -11)
9. Geelong (13, -17)
10. Sunbury United (12, -6)
11. Williamstown* (11, -10)
12. Whittlesea United (11, -15)
*game in hand