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Saturday afternoon brought two decent results for Balmain, with reserves drawing 2-2 and firsts drawing 1-1 away to high-flying Hawkesbury.

Reserve grade started well, and were up 2-0 inside a quarter of an hour after Dave Hardwick finished two headers on his return to league action. The Hawks fought back however, and took advantage of a new-look Tigers side to get those goals back before half-time. The second period offered Balmain several opportunities to notch the winner, but none were taken as the Tigers relinquished top spot to Gladesville who the side is due to play in two weeks.

In the first grade competition so far, six weeks of football had seen three teams streak ahead of the competition. For the first time, two of those sides met in Saturday's clash between Balmain and Hawkesbury.

The tussle started evenly before Balmain stepped up their passing to control proceedings. Several half chances for the Tigers were spurned, as was one glorious one: Liam set me up with a perfect cross which I totally missed. Nice cross though!

After the scoreless first-half, Balmain were again looking dangerous in the second stanza. That is until a dubious Hawks challenge in midfield went unpunished and the home side took advantage of a sharp counter-attack to go 1-0 in front of their supporters. It was only Hawksbury's second scoring chance of the match, but they had proven themselves to be more clinical in front of goal compared with their merciful visitors.

Nonetheless, the Tigers pressed and forced the Hawks back onto their heels. Coach Kaltenegger sent the troops forward in the hope of snatching an equaliser, but as time slipped away it seemed as if the home side had done enough to hold on the hungry Tigers.

That is until Carl sent in a delicious cross deep into injury time. The ball was only half-cleared to the top of the box, where through a scrum I managed to squeeze a shot toward goal. The keeper looked to have it covered until substitute striker and part-time model Lozza nipped in to send the ball over the keeper with a delicious glancing header. The goal proved to be the final moment of action and secured a point that was the least the Tigers deserved.

With the league-leading Roosters looming next weekend, the Tigers will be keen to get their shooting boots on.

Finally, a big thankyou to all the Hawks men and women who graciously hosted us at their fundraiser after the match. Everyone loved the entertainment. Be sure y'all come back to our sponsor pub the Monkey Bar after the return fixture later in the season.

And sorry about all these words - I forgot the camera on Saturday.