ALTHOUGH it was not a winning debut, FC Bendigo showed plenty of positive signs in Sunday's opening round in the National Premier League.
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Bendigo fought back from a two-goal deficit to level scores in the 70th minute of the clash with Avondale Heights at Darebin.
The Heights attack again capitalised on a defensive mistake to regain the lead and win 3-2.
FC Bendigo coach Steve Martin said although bitterly disappointed not to have won or drawn the match, there were many great signs.
"The effort to fight from two-nil down was fantastic."
The honour of striking Bendigo's first goal in the NPL went to Amara Kromah approaching the one-hour mark.
About 10-minutes later and it was Martin who leapt above the defence and headed the equaliser.
Avondale Heights had few scoring chances, but capitalised most times.
"Some skill errors, poor decisions or being caught out of position did cost us," Martin said.
"The great thing is we had a lot of the play and did put their defence under pressure for a lot of the match.
"For all the players it was a great experience.
"They will have learned a lot."
Martin said playing in the swirly conditions and on a synthetic pitch was a great test.
FC Bendigo's best were Ryan Davidson at right-back, Martin at centre back, and captain Trent Waterson at left or right wing.
The under-20s match ended in a 2-1 win for Avondale Heights.
Josh Dwyer scored for Bendigo.
Bendigo has the bye this weekend and then plays Whittlesea at Epping.