The visitors controlled possession and territory and must have rattled off at least 20 shots during a dominant performance.
Southern barely ventured north of halfway and spent most of the game doggedly defending. But some heroics from goalkeeper Liam Little and a cracking late volley from Tom Connor saw the home side snaffle the most unlikely of draws against the perennial powerhouse.
‘‘[Little] was outstanding and you need that against a team like Auckland City because they are always going to have long periods of possession,’’ coach Paul O’Reilly said.
‘‘He’s made over 10 saves and probably four top-class one-on-one saves.
‘‘He kept us in the game and we were able to counterattack and nick two goals. But by geez, it was hard work, you know.’’
Roger that. Southern had only the smallest scraps of possession and ball in Auckland’s half was nominal bordering on non-existent.
Auckland’s Emiliano Tade cooked up the first goal with Ryan De Vries receiving the ball in the box and slotting it past Little.
The pressure was really mounting on the home side.
Former Otago footballer Cameron Howieson got on to a through ball and was fouled by a desperate Little. But the flag went up for offside. Otherwise, Auckland would have got a penalty and, quite possibly, made it 2-0.
Moments later, a corner from Tade hit the post but Southern scrambled the ball clear.
The opportunities kept stacking up but it was Southern who scored and it came from virtually Southern’s first attacking foray.
Defender Conor O’Keeffe curled in a lovely ball and Danny Furlong nodded it in to stun the visitors.
Auckland responded with a series of promising attacks but Little just kept getting his body or mitts in the way.
He got beaten early in the second half, though. But Stephen Last made a brilliant clearance off the line.
The crossbar came to Little’s aid five minutes later when Liam Graham blasted a shot towards goal. It took a deflection and then thundered into the bar.
Auckland keeper Enaut Zubikarai spent long periods idle but used all of his reach to palm a shot from Furlong over the bar. He needed the stepladder again when defender Roland Bala tried to catch him out from about 45m out.
Southern’s luck finally ran out with four minutes of regulation time left. Tade smashed the ball into the corner of the net to make it 2-1.
But before Auckland could say ‘about time’, Southern had found an equaliser.
Zubikarai was forced to punch a dangerous cross away. But the ball went as far as Connor and he powered in a volley.
‘‘Geez, it was a great goal — two great goals, really. I thought the first goal was a great goal as well.
‘‘Hopefully, this can give us a little bit of a platform to go on and get some better results.
‘‘We went seven games without getting a point last year and confidence-wise it zapped our energy. So this is a good start but it is just a point.
‘‘Our aim is still to try to get into the top six and there is lots we need to do to get there.’’
In other results, Tasman United defeated Hamilton Wanderers 4-1, Eastern Suburbs upset Team Wellington 3-1 and Canterbury United and Waitakere United drew 101.
●Southern United women lost 3-1 to Central in Palmerston North yesterday. Eleanor Isaac scored Southern’s goal. Coach Terry Parle could not be reached for comment.
●Southern United Futsal team played Canterbury in back-to-back matches at the Edgar Centre on the weekend.
It won the first match 7-4 but had to settle for a 3-3 draw in yesterday’s rematch.
