NPL’s leading goal scorer Matt Thurtell once again flexes his attacking muscle as the Bentleigh Green’s forward throws himself through the air to header home an opener just before half-time.
Visitors Green Gully had shown resilience up until this point to limit Bentleigh’s scoring opportunities, but their task was about to be made all the more harder, as midfielder Aaron Cohen was given his marching orders for an ill-disciplined slide tackle.
Fast-forward an hour, and the story wasn’t of a Gully capitulation when nigh on everything was framed against them, rather it was a tale of retribution, as the spirited Cavaliers contained Bentleigh for 40 minutes before striking a late set-piece equaliser to draw level.
It was some inspired words and a clear, direct message from coach Bobby Stojcevski which steered his Green Gully side to a rear-guard led point.
“The longer we could keep Bentleigh from scoring another goal, the more frustration was going to lead to from their perspective,” the Gully head coach said.
“They would take more chances with the ball, which was going to give us an opportunity to go forward. The main theme was that we weren’t going to get too many opportunities, and whichever one came, to make it count.
“Our striker Matthew Sanders had a fantastic chance, one-on-one with the keeper. Unfortunately that one didn’t go in, but we made the next one count.”
Defender Daniel Jones placed the ball over an anchored wall with precision and finesse, something that Bentleigh’s Jamie De Abreu lacked 10 minutes prior when he inexplicably prodded wide from a yard out.
It was a game of limited chances and Gully took theirs late to share the spoils, much to the delight of Stojcevski
“They missed a sitter, we missed a sitter, but that’s football. If you score every chance, you’ll get lots of big scoring games,” he said on the second half.
“But that’s football, you take your chance, otherwise you miss out on points. Unfortunately for Bentleigh, they didn’t take their earlier chance and they paid the price for that.”
But to earn that chance, Gully showed discipline and structure in spades to repel Bentleigh’s avenue to goal, something that Stojcevski was immensely proud to see, even if his side had set out to take the game to Bentleigh.
“I’m really pleased with the discipline showed, other than the red card of course. But in terms of our preparation, and the way we wanted to approach this game, we wanted to take it up to Bentleigh,” Gully’s coach said.
“We did that in the first 20 or so minutes. Of course, the red card changed that and Bentleigh’s got a fantastic ball playing team, so with one player less, they were always going to continue to stretch us, and that was the case.
“But I think the resilience the players were able to show and the discipline that they showed in keeping their shape in order to keep [Bentleigh] out was fantastic.
“If a team does that, you never know what can happen and the end result was taking a point with a free-kick. So very pleased in terms of the discipline showed.”