Bentleigh pinches late point against Hume

Bentleigh Greens have come from behind to draw 1-1 with Hume City at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex after Wayne Wallace’s 83rd minute goal cancelled out Mark Leech’s opener.

By Yessar Daou of Football Federation Victoria.

Due to a State Cup fixture during the week, the Kingston Heath turf seemed slightly tarnished, and in need of a makeover.

The state of the playing surface failed however to take away what was an enthralling Friday night encounter.

Bentleigh welcomed back last year’s top scorer Ryan De Vries for his first match of the season, while the visitors were still without star forward Richie Cardozo.

In what was a cagey opening, neither team were able to put many passes together with both sides clumsy in possession.

Ultimately, the match was a game of two contrasting halves, and it was the visitors who had the bragging rights in the first 45.

Leech, who had just signed from VPL rivals Southern Stars, was a constant menace during the first half and when he finally took one of his chances, he gave Hume the lead they deserved; in the process scoring his second in as many weeks.

The Hume midfield was pressing high up the pitch, and the pressure eventually told off in the 18th minute.

A clever ball was played in the mobile Leech’s feet, before he turned and shot as his effort deflected off Aron Wilford and past Lawrence Thomas in goals.

Hume continued to press on in search of a second, with Jose Guerrero passing up a decent chance to score before Nick Hegarty mirrored his young team mate.

Bentleigh did threaten at times before the half ended, with Scott Bulloch and Jukic looking lively, however the back four of Hume and in particular Jarryd Barnes were impressive in nullifying the influence of Bentleigh wingers Ryan De Vries and Connor Pain as the half ended 1-0 to the visitors.

The home team came out the second half a revived outfit, and skipper Wayne Wallace should have had two goals in as many minutes.

His first chance came after great work from Pain down the left, who crossed it to his skipper who then turned but fired just wide of Chris Oldfield’s far post.

Seemingly immediately from the goal kick, Wallace was at it again.

This time full-back Dominic D’Angelo was providing an avenue to goals, and his cross met Wallace on the head six yards out, but the former Sunshine Georgies midfielder somehow put his effort wide.

The home side continued to waste opportunities in front of goal, and looked unable to capitalise on their second half dominance.

Wallace looked as though he had a curse on himself, as he had yet another effort saved by Chris Oldfield, before great build up play almost was rewarded through a stunning Luke Pilkington effort.

However, as time began to expire, it looked as though Bentleigh had wasted their chance to snatch a point, in scenes similar to their loss two weeks ago to Richmond.

Cue captain fantastic who was able to salvage a point for his side with just seven minutes remaining.

After beating Jarryd Barnes to the by line, Pain was able to cut the ball back to place it on a platter for Wallace inside the six yard box to smash past Oldfield.

The relief was there for all to see on the Bentleigh contingents faces as memories of their shock loss two weeks ago turned into a distance memory.

As the final whistle blew, each manager had to be content with sharing the spoils.

Post-match, neither was disheartened with Hume coach Lou Acevski believing it was a fair result.

“First half we were the better team, second half they were the better team. I think we could have killed the game off in the first half, but they could have won it in the end.”

Acevski however, did lament the amount of injuries to come out of the match.

“Barnes was alright in the end, but Guerrero got injured and Howard Fondyke got injured, it just adds to Richie Cardozo and Archie Tomic who are on the sidelines.”

His counterpart John Anastasiadis bemoaned his side’s wasted opportunities.

“I think the first half was evenly balanced, but the second half was one way traffic again.

“It was the same old story for us; we have full possession and create a hand full of chances but we have got to score goals.

“Goals win you the game, if you don’t do that you won’t win games.”

He was also less than convinced that his side’s spot in the top five was safe.

“I don’t think any team in the five can say they are safe.

“There is no way in the world any team is secure at the moment; it’s just such an open league no one knows what can happen.”

BENTLEIGH GREENS: Lawrence THOMAS, Nicholas CURTIS, Wayne WALLACE, Ryan DE VRIES (Evan BATSIS 72’), Scott BULLOCH (Luke O’DEA 74’), Connor PAIN, Aron WILFORD, Jack WEBSTER, Dominic D’ANGELO, Andrija JUKIC (Paulo RETRE 45’), Luke PILKINGTON.

UNUSED SUBS: Nicholas ANSELL, Christopher DAVIES.

Yellow Cards: Wallace (89’)

Goals: Wallace (83’)

HUME CITY: Chris OLDFIELD, Ben HARRISON, Isiyan ERDOGAN (Cem CIL 63’), Steven PACE, Jose GUERRERO (Ryan BALDACHINO 69’), Nick HEGARTY, Jarryd BARNES, Zoran PETREVSKI, Phillip RICCOBENE, Howard FONDYKE (Serdar PIR 86’), Mark LEECH.

UNUSED SUBS: David CHICK, Martin JOHN

Yellow Cards: Erdogan (59’)

Goals: Leech (18’)