Bentleigh Greens suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of Oakleigh Cannons on Friday night, with coach John Anastasiadis insisting the standard must be set higher.
The Greens went on the back foot after Oakleigh’s Dean Piemonte capitalised on a defensive error, thundering home a low shot into the bottom corner in the 18th minute.
Bentleigh headed into half time level after Danny Dixon coolly slotted home a Chris Lucas cross, much to the delight of the home fans. The home side made it 2-1 through Matt Thurtell in the 49th minute, however Dimi Hatzimouratis breathed hope into Oakleigh’s comeback just moments later, making it 2-2.
The Cannons brought a high-intensity attacking brand of football to Kingston Heath Soccer Complex and it ultimately proved too much for the Greens with Dusan Bosnjak putting the nail in Bentleigh’s coffin with a brilliant run and finish in the 85th minute.
Greens coach John Anastasiadis was ultimately disappointed with the loss but admitted his side didn’t deserve the three points in the end, saying they need to improve their efforts if they are to go back to back in 2016.
“It’s all about inches – today it just didn’t fall our way,” Anastasiadis said.
“We’ve got to be better than that and I’ve told the boys that this year, we have to raise the bar and if we don’t, it’s going to be a long season.
“Last year we had the luxury of only losing two this year it’s going to be different – we’ve got to raise the bar otherwise we’re going to be in this predicament every week.”
Anastasiadis said the Greens would analyse their performance against Oakleigh to find any gaps in their game and fix them as the season progresses.
The Bentleigh coach said although there were positives out of the clash, he feels his side did not stamp their authority on the game – allowing Oakleigh to grow as the game progressed.
With South Melbourne losing to Richmond, a win against the Cannons would have put Anastasiadis’ side in first place on the NPL table after five rounds but instead remain equal on points with their rivals.
Bentleigh Greens will look to put their first loss of the season behind them and turn their attention to Friday night’s match up against Melbourne Victory at Kingston Heath.
“Melbourne Victory have got some great youngsters and they’re playing extremely well, they’ve got a great style so we’re going to be up for it,” the Bentleigh coach said.
“We’ve got to just play our game, a bit more intense, a bit more forward play so we can create more chances and hopefully finish them off.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got another cup final – simple as that.”
Photo: Zee Ko