NNSW NPL: Charlestown Azzurri coach Graham Law draws positives from comeback against Adamstown Rosebud

But after coming from 3-1 down to draw 3-all on a rain-soaked pitch at Lisle Carr Oval on Sunday, the Scotsman reckons the point might prove extremely important at the end of the season.

"You want to win all your games," Law said. "Sometimes what looks like a bad point, when you get to the end of the season, you might look back and go 'that was a pretty important point'.

"We probably have to win games rather than draw them. We are four points out of fifth, but we have to play Newcastle Olympic twice. They are holding that position. We still know we are very much in the season and are confident we will be there or thereabouts."

Rosebud appeared set to bank a a second straight upset when Charlie Naylor slotted home a James Lowe cross to put the visitors up 3-1 in the 52^nd minute.

But a brace to replacement striker Riley Smith in the 57^th and 86^th minutes snatched the home side a share of the points.

His slid a shot under keeper Thomas Jenkins for his first and then made a late run to tap in the equaliser after the ball had been hooked across the face of the goal.

"We have been trying to get Riley to score goals like that for a year," Laws said. "That is all that is missing from his game to be a really top player at this level.

"At 3-1, the penny dropped for us. We were trying to play football on that pitch. We have Rene Ferguson and Harry Frendo up front who we can play off. After an hour we realised that we had to play a bit more direct."

Three minutes before Smith's equaliser, Adamstown striker Kyle Munns has a header crash into the crossbar and coach David Rosewarne was disappointed not to win.

"It feels like a loss but it's not a loss," Rosewarne said. "The conditions probably suited Charlestown a bit more. They can tend to be a little bit more direct. We like to get it on the deck and play through lines.

"Towards the end, the legs were starting to get heavy on the soft pitch. We were sitting deeper and deeper and weren't able to get out and hold possession."

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Law had high praise for the young Rosebud outfit.

"They should be really proud," he said. "We are quite a strong, physical team and I thought the conditions would suit us. They turned it on our head."

The other two games set down for Sunday were postponed due to the wet weather.

On Saturday, Weston captain Nathan Morris marked his 300^th top-grade game by scoring a last-minute penalty in a 2-1 triumph over Valentine at Bear Park.

"A cross came in and one of their defenders pretty much rugby league tackled Nathan to the ground," Weston assistant coach Anthony Richards said. "It wasn't the best penalty he has taken but it went in. He couldn't have scripted it better."

On Friday night, James Thompson scored the decisive goal as Maitland edged a 10-man Lake Macquarie 1-0 at Cooks Square Park.

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