The side was missing stalwart veterans Geoff Dixon and Steve Hawkins from defence was going to make the competition harder than it should have been on a sunny Sunday, on a poor pitch.

But Jason Moore stepped up and (as usual) played a strong game at centre back.

On his right the not-so-pacy Frank Bambrick had much possession and his distribution was good, allowing several passages of strong play from the backline to mid-field to the strikers.

Dennis Muhiga used his speed to whip past Australind defenders and it was a run of his that led to centre midfielder David Field scoring, placing one to the right of the outstretched Australind keeper.

From here Blackwood mysteriously, again, lost some control in defence, failing to adequately repel some fairly soft attacks and eventually conceded a penalty which was scored by Australind.

James MacDonald’s long throw-ins and quality control from Nick Vane kept up the pressure and a well placed corner from Jordan Engle was headed in by Field to make it 2-1.

In the second half Blackwood regained enough composure to thwart the Australind attacks, and put in half a dozen or so significant efforts. But there was no addition to the score and it remained two-one.

In the women’s game the final tally was Australind nil Blackwood nil.

The scoreline, however, was not a true reflection of the game.

Australind has been setting the league on fire this year, scoring freely. It is a much younger team than Blackwod and with the numbers (plus training twice weekly) was a lot fitter.

Blackwood stood up to the pressure well, creating a few scoring chances of their own.

If Sarah Townsend had been a bit stronger in the game’s dying , the three points could have been Blackwood’s.

An away draw was a very good result.

Next week both teams will be in Bunbury for round one of the Pioneer Cup.