Maitland coach Keelan Hamilton was proud of his players after they fought back from a send-off and goal down in the opening minutes to draw 2-2 with Olympic and stay narrow NPL women's leaders.
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Keeper Annabella Thornton was marched in the fifth minute for fouling a runaway Jemma House on Saturday at Cooks Square Park.
Elodie Dagg hit the ensuing free kick in off the post. The game came to life again when Maitland's Bronte Peel (55th minute) then House (57th) scored solo goals before Paige Kingston-Hogg (60th) equalised with a lunging finish. It kept Maitland and Olympic even, on 37 points, at the top. Maitland have more goals and a game in hand, against Charlestown on Tuesday.
Hamilton was "over the moon" with the effort and felt his side could have walked away with the win.
"To fight back and get a draw was a fantastic effort," Hamilton said. "It shows how well we played in that there's a tiny bit of disappointment that we didn't get three points, because I think we had the better chances overall and our performance was really good."
Also on Saturday, Charlestown (32 points) went to third with a 21-0 rout of Warners Bay (6). On Friday, Adamstown (21) upset Broadmeadow (30) 1-0. New Lambton (22) beat Mid Coast (3) 12-0 on Friday and 14-1 on Sunday.
Hamilton said there were "no complaints about the send-off" of Thornton, who brought down House outside her area.
"It was a shame for AB but that's part of the life of being a goalkeeper. At some point you go through that but she'll bounce back stronger," he said.
"The first half was reasonably even, I was really proud of our girls' effort and I thought we actually got on top a bit. Then second half we missed two really good chances and probably felt a little disappointed we didn't take three points in the end.
"I'm just really proud of the players. We showed a lot of fighting resolve and also a lot of quality in how we played."
In the Azzurri rout of Warners Bay, Ella Joyce scored six goals after playing just the second half, Melina Ayres bagged five, while Jess Gentle and Jayna Fraser netted four each.
