By Rory Flanagan (@Rory_Flanagan)

Despite failing to fire, the Oakleigh Cannons reduced South Melbourne’s lead to 7 points with a 2-1 win over Bentleigh Greens on Sunday night.

The second-placed Cannons were far from their best but managed to weather Bentleigh’s second-half storm coupled with Ari Ritz’s red card.

Nate Foster opened the scoring on 27 minutes before supplying Goran Zoric eight minutes later to give the home side all three points. 

The all-blue Cannons started the better of the two sides, with Ritz and Foster scuffing close-range efforts inside the area

Andre McNamara was clattered into with 14 minutes on the clock and could only last another ten before succumbing to what seemed like an ankle injury, giving fellow youngster Luke Gallo 65 minutes of football in his stead. 

On 27 minutes the Greens inexplicably gifted Foster the opening goal.

There looked no real danger when the Canadian had the ball at his feet 30 yards from goal, but the striker was allowed to charge into the box unchallenged before slotting past an incensed Alastair Bray. 

The visitors looked to hit back immediately and a typical controlled team move ended with Liam McCormick’s mishit backheel rolling straight into the hands of John Honos.

Ten minutes before the break Foster turned provider for his stand-in skipper Goran Zoric when the ex-Dandenong man delivered the perfect cross for Zoric to thump a header past Bray and double the lead.

Shortly after the restart Wayne Wallace executed another of his superbly timed tackles on Dominic D’Angelo only to be issued with a yellow card.

There was nothing wrong with his challenge from the resulting free-kick however, denying another ex-teammate Aron Wilford with a desperate lunge on the six-yard line to keep the margin at two going into half time.

For the remainder of the match, the Greens looked the better side despite being disrupted by a sub-par playing surface.

A stunning team move gave McCormick a chance to halve the deficit but the former Football Superstar skewed his shot wide, before Gallo played in David Stirton who drew a fine save from Honos.

One of the top goalkeepers in the NPL, Honos was again on his toes to keep out a dipping free kick from Wallace.

On 65 minutes the Greens sent the ball goalward and Honos again palmed away, this time prompting serious questions of whether or not the ball had crossed the line.

Everyone inside the ground looked to the assistant referee who was unmoved and play continued.

As the game threatened to peter out, Ritz was shown his second yellow card and the Cannons were down to ten men.

The hole left in midfield was almost exploited by McCormick, who began to make more runs into the box.

The Queenslander missed two glorious chances, glancing headers across the face of goal in quick succession. 

Bentleigh set up a grandstand finish when a messy goalmouth scramble was turned home by Jack Webster with five minutes remaining, but the goal proved scant reward for Bentleigh’s dominance when Honos parried De Vries powerful effort in stoppage time. 

Oakleigh coach Miron Bleiberg was happy to take the points, but was left unimpressed by the match as a whole.

“It was what you call an ugly win. I didn’t enjoy the game, I didn’t enjoy the win, I enjoyed the three points," Bleiberg said.

“The ground condition was quite awful. The people coming here didn’t see good football and I think Oakleigh and Bentleigh can both play good football.

“Do you want me to apologise for the win? I will.”

Green's stand-in coach John Gabrielson felt his side deserved something out of the game, but the surface on the day didn't allow his side to play its usual flowing football.

“I think we were good enough for a point at least," Gabrielson said.

“It (pitch condition) doesn’t help. We try and play an attractive brand of football which is possession based and a lot of passing. When you get to these sort of surfaces it inhibits our ability to play the game we want.”

Oakleigh Cannons 2 (Foster 27’, Zoric 35’) defeated Bentleigh Greens 1 (Webster 85’) at Jack Edwards Reserve [HT: 2-0]

Oakleigh Cannons: John Honos, George Krommidas, Aron Wilford, Adam Le Cornu, Nate Foster, Ariel Ritz, Goran Zoric (Dean Piemonte 86’), Bonel Obradovic, Thomas Lakic, Dusan Bosnjak, Dominic D’Angelo (Tremayne Sadler 65’)
Unused Subs: Harry Raworth, Veton Korcari, Omar Ammache

Yellow Cards: Ritz 57, 74

Red Card: Ritz 74’

Bentleigh Greens: Alistair Bray, Tom Matthews, Jamie Cumming, Jack Webster, Christian Cavallo, Davide Cardamone, Wayne Wallace, Liam McCormick, Andre McNamara (Luke Gallo 24’), David Stirton, Ryan De Vries.
Unused Subs: Lajos Hun, Lewis Foster, Christopher Droutsas, Nicholas Teichman

Yellow cards: Wallace 37’, Webster 66’

Image credit: Peter Psaros