By Matthew McNamara

A gallant Hume City has defeated a brave Goulburn Valley Suns 4-1 in blissful conditions in Shepparton on Saturday night.

After the home side had taken the lead through Englishman Craig Carley’s penalty, the visitors struck back with captain Nick Hegarty slotting home to send the sides level at the back.

In the second half it was Hegarty who regained his side’s lead, before Christopher Cristaldo and Matthew Hennessey sealed the points.

The visitors had the best of the opening exchanges, with Cristaldo dominant out wide and combining well with Hegarty, who made his first start for three months after suffering a serious knee injury in the reverse fixture earlier this year.

Despite Hume’s early domination it was the Suns who scored first. Ben
Clarke broke free in the box and was fouled by teenage defender Ilhan Altuntas. Carley stepped up and sent Chris Oldfield the wrong way.

The Suns should have doubled their lead when Daniel Chaabani was sent free on goal, only for former Liverpool ‘keeper Oldfield to make a desperate one-on-one save.

The next chance fell to Johnny Buceto as it was Hume's turn to play against the run of play.
After the Suns’ short corner routine went astray, Kliment Taseski released Buceto before Phil Petrovski made a magnificent save down low to deny the Melbourne Victory youth player.

Moments before the break, Hume found an equaliser when journeyman Johnny Sapazovski squared the ball to Hegarty, who slotted home from the edge of the area.

Hume took the lead via the penalty spot in the second half after Cristaldo was hacked down in the area. Hegarty stepped up and calmly dinked the ball into the back of the net.

The job was made harder for the Suns when Clarke – arguably his side’s best player this season - was shown a second yellow for a reckless late challenge on Hennessey.

With the game entering the final moments Hume took full advantage of the extra man.
Firstly Cristaldo, who had picked up the ball from a short corner, hammered home past Petrovski before 17-year-old Hennessey scored his first goal at senior level with a well timed header to ensure the points.

Suns goalkeeper Petrovski was disappointed his side couldn't hold the lead.

"To be honest whenever you have the lead and don't win it's a disappointing result,” Petrovski said.

“It's been the story of our season really. I actually thought we weren't too bad today but once you go down to 10 men it's always tough.”

Hume City coach Louie Acevski was pleased with the impact of Hegarty.

"Tonight we had a match winner in Nick Hegarty. He was involved in everything,” Acevski said.

"Unfortunately we haven't had that for long periods this year. We look forward to working towards picking up maximum points in the final two weeks.”

MATCH DETAILS

Goulburn Valley Suns 1 (Carley 16' pen.) lost to Hume City 4 (Hegarty 36' 69' pen., Cristaldo 82', Hennessey 90') at McEwen Reserve [HT: 1-1]

Goulburn Valley Suns: Phil Petrovski (GK), Cody Sellwood (Tom Langman 80'), Naum Sekulovski, Simon Colosimo, Riley Hamilton, Frank Lagana, Daniel Chaabani, Brian Vanega, Hernan Espindola (Hussey Sumaili 60'), Craig Carley, Ben Clarke

Unused subs: Rossi Lagana, Joey McGrath, Jake Keating

Yellow cards: Clarke x2

Red card: Clarke (70')

Hume City: Chris Oldfield (GK), Perry Lambropoulos (Nikos Jackson 55'), Aaron Turner, Matthew Hennessey, Ilhan Altuntas, Joseph Franjic, Nick Hegarty, Kliment Taseski (Abel Fesseha 46'), John Sapazovski (Reis Aygun 74'), John Buceto, Christopher Cristaldo

Unused subs: Jamie De Smit, Dennys Martin

Yellow cards: Franjic

Red cards: None