By Rory Flanagan (@Rory_Flanagan)

Heidelberg's remarkable run of results continued on Friday night with a 3-1 triumph over Bentleigh at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.

Despite the scoreline, Heidelberg was under the pump for nearly the full 90 minutes but the Greens’ inability to put the ball where it counted proved costly in the end, as the Bergers came from behind to record a sixth win in a row.

The Greens have developed a reputation for their slick, possession-based passing game and clicked into gear almost immediately against a Heidelberg side with an abundance of confidence.

Tom Matthews was presented with the first of many opportunities for Bentleigh but blazed miles over the bar after racing to meet a cross at the far post.

Luc Jeggo was the standout player in the opening 15 minutes before his night was crudely cut short at the hands - rather elbow - of Jack Petrie, who left the diminutive maestro with a nasty gash following an aerial duel.

Signed to fill the goalscoring boots of Luke Sherbon, Brent McGrath opened the scoring with another well-taken goal in the 18th minute. The one-time Socceroo made space for himself on his right boot and powered the ball into the bottom corner.

To make matters worse, the Bergers lost influential skipper Luke Byles to injury , forcing Jordan Wilkes to deputise at centre-back.

On the half-hour mark, the Greens allowed the visitors back into the match with the type of goal seen on a "Coach Killers" TV segment.

If the failure to communicate in defence wasn't bad enough, Stuart Webster's clearance was worse as he thundered the ball into Dan Heffernan's rear end and it trickled into the net.

Before halftime, some tantalising one-touch football from Bentleigh could have sent McGrath through on goal but the former Brondby player mistakenly assumed he was offside and didn't pursue a wonderful through ball.

After play resumed for the second half, McGrath should have had goal number two but sprayed high and wide of the mark from 12 yards.

Substitute Stefan Baricevic and serial Team of the Week pest Steven Pace produced two sublime tackles each at left-back and centre-back respectively, thwarting the Greens' momentum and setting up Heidelberg's only spell of dominance for the game.

Heffernan was denied by a low, reflex stop from Webster, before five minutes later Kosta Kanakaris wasted a glorious chance after being gifted a free header on the six-yard line.

Bergers fans began to think this could be the end of their winning streak, but football showed what a remarkable game it can be.

The impressive Liam McCormick couldn't get a touch on Wayne Wallace's cross and in the blink of an eye Kaine Sheppard had the ball in the back of the net up the other end from Ryan Norval's long kick.
Norval was again involved, parrying a fizzing McCormick strike following Jamie De Abreu's cut-back.

Last year's grand finalists then proceeded to waste a host of half chances before Jack Webster failed to find the net inside the six-yard box from a diagonal free kick.

Webster then turned to unconventional methods to try and score, opting for a volleyball spike from an 82nd minute corner and was subsequently booked.

The final 10 minutes were rushed by Bentleigh. Tactical U-turns that were so devastating last year were made to look useless by Steven Pace's defence, who comfortably cleared the ball a dozen times.

In stoppage time, Heffernan raced onto to one of the aforementioned clearances and played in James Goulopoulos, who curled a gorgeous effort into the top-left corner to kill the game off.

The Bergers now remain in title contention after six-straight wins, while Bentleigh's hopes are all but over as it trails runaway leader South Melbourne by 13, 14, or 16 points (depends on South Melbourne’s result against Werribee City on Sunday).

An emotional Bentleigh coach John Anastasiadis was left to rue mistakes and missed chances.

"It’s like watching a comedy. Initially, two mistakes led to the third mistake. We can’t take a trick at the moment but no use crying and moping about it. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board and start training on Monday again and start training hard again and hopefully it (form) turns,” Anastasiadis said.

"We’ve missed an absolute sitter and they’ve just scored so you just wonder what’s going on but we’re in a hole and the solution is in the dressing room. It’s nowhere else, so we’ve got to do better than that.”

Heidelberg coach George Katsakis was elated with his team's surprise run of results.

"Ultimately, we hoped that coming from Division 1, we could possibly consolidate a strong squad, and consolidate in the NPL being a new league. The following year we can make plans for championships and so forth but at this point, anything above sixth is a massive effort for the club,” Katsakis said.

"I think there's a bit of momentum creeping into our game nowadays. Last week we had to grind out a result against Melbourne Knights and this week we had to do the same. Although flattering, I thought it was well-earned."

MATCH DETAILS

Bentleigh Greens 1 (McGrath 18') lost to Heidelberg United 3 (Heffernan 30' Sheppard 65' Goulopoulos 90’+2) at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex [HT 1-1]

Bentleigh Greens: Stuart Webster, Tom Matthews, Jamie Cumming, Jack Webster, Ross Archibald, Luc Jeggo (Luke Pilkington 15'), Wayne Wallace (C), Liam McCormick (David Stirton 70'), Stephen Hatzikostas (Jamie De Abreu 58'), Luke O'Dea, Brent McGrath.

Unused subs: Perry Lambropoulos, Andrew Giannos.

Yellow card: J Webster 83'

Red cards: Nil

Best: McCormick, McGrath, Wallace

Heidelberg United: Ryan Norval, Jordan Wilkes, Luke Byles (C) (Stefan Baricevic 18'), Steven Pace, Petr Kratky, Paul Miller, Jack Petrie, Kosta Kanakaris (James Goulopoulos 78'), Andrew Cartanos (Zane Sole 71'), Dan Heffernan, Kaine Sheppard.

Unused subs: Griffin McMaster, Dean Tancevski

Yellow cards: Petrie 14', Wilkes 33', Goulopoulos 81'

Red cards: Nil

Best: Pace, Heffernan, Wilkes

Image credit: Jason Heidrich Photography