Wanderers play out thrilling draw

Former All Whites and Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert has picked up his third point this season. Photo / Grant Stantiall

Hamilton Wanderers secured another point on Sunday in a thrilling 4-4 draw with Tasman United in what has been a better start to the second part of the ISPS Handa Premiership.

The point takes Hamilton Wanderers' tally to three, but the team are still no closer to moving off the bottom of the table.

Tasman started on the offensive early and it did not take them long to break the deadlock as Matt Tod-Smith buried the rebound after a Matt Oliver save for Hamilton.

The game then entered a period of penalty as both Tasman United and Hamilton Wanderers were offered chances to score from the spot.

Wanderers were the first to test their luck from the spot after being awarded a penalty for a foul in the box.

Armin Pasagic, who has been in good form for Hamilton since joining the side, pulled them level after Corey Wilson narrowly missed saving the shot, putting the game at one-all.

Callan Elliot for Tasman was then taken down in the box and Paul Ifill put Tasman 2-1 up, smashing the ball past Oliver in goal.

Wanderers were then awarded another penalty which Pasagic scored again, levelling the game 2-2 at halftime.

The penalty madness did not stop there, as in the 50th minute Maksym Kowal was brought down in the box and Ifill again netted the shot to make it 3-2.

Tommy Semmy then scored the second goal from open play after another good build-up from Pasagic. A shot from outside the box was well saved, but Semmy was on hand to tap in the rebound.

Ifill then completed his hat-trick to make the game 4-3. His shot was saved by Oliver but the rebound effort was smashed home.

The action was not over just yet, as Wanderers still had one last part to play in the thrilling match.

Alexis Varela scored a dramatic equaliser for Hamilton in the last minutes as his free kick found its way into the back of the net, which saw the game end 4-4.

The improvements to Hamilton can be seen as the side have doubled their points tally from the first part of the season. They face Eastern Suburbs at home this weekend, which will see the return of Michael Built who was the club's director of football for the 2018 season before he decided to pursue other ventures.