By Matthew McNamara

A man-of-the-match performance from goalkeeper Chris Oldfield has denied Bentleigh Greens a victory over Hume City as the two sides finished level at 1-1 at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex on Friday night.

In a performance that Hume City coach Louie Acevski described as "absolutely outstanding", Oldfield made numerous second-half saves to keep the visitors in the game.

It was the home side who initially took the lead in the 69th minute after confusion reigned in the Hume defence.

Ryan De Vries was the beneficiary of a lacklustre Hume back four and made no mistake in putting the Greens ahead.

Hume City had to wait until the 89th minute for the opportunity to strike back which came in controversial circumstances.

Bentleigh ‘keeper Alistair Bray thought the referee had given a free kick and duly placed the ball on the floor after grasping a lofted ball into the area.

Veteran striker Johnny Sapazovski reacted quickly to slot the ball into the unguarded net. As the Greens players protested with referee Bruno D'Aniello, Hume players disregarded the protests and ran off in jubilation as the equaliser stood.

Bentleigh came strong out of the blocks minutes, with Luke Pilkington’s strike parried away by the ever-reliable Oldfield, which led to a six-yard box scramble and two stellar saves from Oldfield, before former Greens man Perry Lambropoulos cleared the danger for Hume.

Hume found it difficult to respond to such a barrage of attacks from the Greens in the first half, opting to conservatively wait out the half in the hope that the pressure would ease.

Early in the second half Bentleigh should have pulled ahead after De Vries squandered a gilt-edged chance which flew over the bar.

After De Vries converted in the 69th minute, Oldfield kept the Greens’ strike force at bay, before Sapazovski’s leveller in the dying minutes.

Bentleigh Greens assistant coach Dean Anastasiadis was full of praise for the Englishman Oldfield, but was disappointed his team had squandered so many chances.

"If you don't score goals, you don't win. And their ‘keeper was outstanding tonight. He had an absolute blinder, and we got punished for not taking our opportunities,” Anastasiadis said.

"There was a misunderstanding from our goalkeeper. He thought the referee had blown the whistle and he placed the ball down to take a free kick and obviously Sapa (Sapazovski) has scored. He (Bray) was devastated after and he will learn from it.”

Hume City counterpart Acevski said his side was lucky to escape with a point.

"To be honest, Bentleigh were probably the better team on the night,” Acevski said.

“But Chris Oldfield's performance tonight was absolutely outstanding. It's not just been tonight, but throughout the whole year and to me, that's why he's the best ‘keeper in the league bar none.”

MATCH DETAILS

Bentleigh Greens 1 (De Vries 69') drew with Hume City (Sapazovski 89') at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex

Bentleigh Greens: Alastair Bray (GK), Jack Webster, Luke Pilkington, Tom Matthews, James Cumming, Davide Cardamone (Christian Cavallo 67'), Liam McCormick (Lewis Foster 83'), Wayne Wallace, Jamie De Abreu (Luke Gallo 46'), Andre McNamara, Ryan De Vries

Unused subs: Patrick Avice, Lajos Hun

Yellow cards: Cardamone 43', De Vries 58'

Red cards: None

Hume City: Chris Oldfield (GK), Perry Lambropoulos, Shane Rexhepi, Matthew Hennessey, Aaron Turner, Joseph Franjic, Ilhan Altuntas, Kliment Taseski (John Sapazovski 46'), Nick Hegarty, Christopher Cristaldo, John Buceto

Unused subs: Dennys Martin, Reis Aygun

Yellow cards: Turner 43'

Red cards: None