North Queensland substitute Dyron Daal endured the highs and lows of football in a frenetic 10-minute period during the Fury’s clash with the Reds but has got the full support of his team-mates, according to captain Robbie Fowler.
Daal replaced James Robinson midway through the second half and within minutes had an impact on the contest, breaking free to score his side’s second goal.
Fury then hit the lead when Daniel McBreen scored but the contest took another twist when Daal was called for hand ball in the penalty box during injury time.
Adelaide was awarded a penalty and Lucas Pantelis scored ensuring the Fury would leave Hindmarsh Stadium with just one point.
Fowler said some jostling in the box may have played a part in the hand ball incident but admitted it was just a part of football.
“It’s finished now, we’ll take it on the chin and next week we’ll start again, it’s not his fault no-one is blaming him,” he said.
Fowler said it was disappointing not to secure a win but was pleased with how the team was progressing.
“We’ve shown last week and tonight we are definitely going the right way, a few performances more like that and we’ll give not just a team but every team in the league a good game,” he said.
“For large portions of the game we’ve controlled it but unfortunately we haven’t come away with the three points again.”
The game was also a pleasing one for Ian Ferguson with two of his substitutions sparking goals.
Fred Agius came onto the pitch in the 66th minute and it was his cross late in the encounter which helped McBreen give his side the lead for the first time.
Ferguson said Agius had deserved his chance to contribute at Hindmarsh.
“He’s performed well in training in the last couple of weeks and he’s bided his time to get into the squad and had done fantastic for us,” Ferguson said.
“I felt we needed fresh legs in there, I thought Griffiths had run his heart out and I felt we could put maybe one or two boys on with fresh legs and try and give us a little bit more up forward to try and help McBreen and Robbie.”
“In the end we took a gamble and threw big Daal on and got the equaliser.”
