Bentleigh Greens deny 10-man Heidelberg
By Bryce Clayton
Bentleigh Greens has secured a massive come-from-behind 3-1 victory over a 10-man Heidelberg at Olympic Village on Sunday night.
A Heffernan thunderbolt opened the scoring for Heidelberg, only for Ruben Way’s sending off to pave the way for Bentleigh to get back into the match, through goals to Jamie De Abreu, Liam McCormick and Chris Lucas.
It was the home side with the momentum at the start, with Reuben Way’s free kick taking a large deflection off Thomas Mathews, only for goalkeeper Alastair Bray to recover.
Heidelberg continued with its charge, and duly took the lead after an absolute stunner from Heffernan in the 39th minute.
Finding himself with the ball, Heffernan spotted Bray off his line and went for the audacious, hammering the strike home from distance to give the home side the lead.
From there on, Heidelberg continued to look to disrupt play, and ended the first half by chalking up an astounding total of 18 fouls.
The home side started the second half the same way as the first, with heavy pressure piling on Bray’s goal.
But it was Holmes with the first decent chance of the second half with his shot saved by McMaster.
It wasn’t long before disaster struck for Heidelberg, with Way earning himself a second yellow after another horrid challenge to earn his marching orders; his first came in the 28th minute after another rash challenge.
Bentleigh found its feet with the extra man.
It didn’t take long for the Greens to take advantage, with De Abreu’s shot from just outside the box parried high into the air by McMaster, before Thurtell sent it home.
Soon after Heidelberg had a chance to retake the lead, with Heffernan trying a chip to beat Bray, but he only found the top of the net with 15 minutes remaining.
But the Greens were too strong with an inch-perfect cross by Luke Pilkington finding the head of McCormick who made no mistake, heading home from point-blank range to give the away side the lead.
And as if that wasn’t enough, Lucas added another with a perfect shot under McMaster sealing a big win for the Greens.
MATCH DETAILS
Heidelberg United 1 (Heffernan 39’) defeated by Bentleigh Greens 3 (De Abreu 65’, McCormick 86’, Lucas 91’) at Olympic Village [HT: 1-0]
Heidelberg: Griffin MCMASTER, Jamie CUMMING, Luke BYLES, Steve PACE, Les DOUMBALIS, Kosta KANAKARIS (Andew CARTANOS 71’), Dan VASILEVSKI (John LAZARIDIS 61’), Jack PETRIE, Reuben WAY, Andreas GOVAS, Dan HEFFERNAN
Unused Substitutes: Christopher MAYNARD, Jacob WILLIAMS, NEBC KOLMAN
Yellow Cards: Way 28’, Heffernan 33’, Petrie 35’, Byles 92’
Red Cards: Way 59’
Bentleigh: Alistair BRAY, Thomas MATTHEWS, Jack WEBSTER, Troy RUTHVEN*, Wayne WALLACE, Chris LUCAS, Tyson HOLMES (Kobbie BOAHENG 78’), Mathew THURTELL, Daniel VISEVIC (Jamie DE ABREU 61’), Luke PILKINGTON, Steven TOPALOVIC (Liam McCormick 74’)
Unused Substitute(s): Ryan SCOTT, Dion KIRK
Yellow Cards: De Abreu 68’, Ruthven 78’, Lucas 92’
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