Image: Smile for Peter
The Bentleigh Greens issued a statement of intent to the rest of the competition following a 3-0 victory over Green Gully last night at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.
Goals to Lambros Honos, Matt Thurtell and substitute Andy Brennan saw John Anastasiadis’ become the early ladder leaders of the competition, with the night’s other game seeing Pascoe Vale and the North Geelong Warriors play out an entertaining 1-1 draw at CB Smith Reserve.
American forward Kene Eze cancelled out an early Davey van’t Schip’s opener with both sides failing to put away opportunities to take the lead, sharing the points as a result.
In Cheltenham, Bentleigh came into the contest by fielding three of their new signings in the starting 11 with Nick Glavan and Marco Jankovic filling the full-back positions as former Wellington Phoenix attacker Ben Litfin settled into a more advanced midfield role.
Ultimately it was the 21-year-old Queenslander Litfin who made the opening goal happen as his clever through ball picked out Thurtell, who rounded Gully goalkeeper Rani Dowisha and Honos found himself in the perfect position to tuck the ball home into the back of the net for an early lead.
Gully had six new faces starting. Jeremy Walker, Joshua Brindell-South, Jonathan Bounas, Sami Nour, Alex Caniglia and Wade Dekker were all handed their league debuts by Arthur Papas.
Bounas came close to grabbing a first-half equaliser when his powerful free-kick effort was tipped over the bar by an alert Ryan Scott after Troy Ruthven had fouled Caniglia on the edge of the area.
The visitors began the second half in positive fashion and could have easily got back on level terms when some clever play from Nour on the right saw him square the ball back to Caniglia, only for the former Richmond man to sky his shot over the bar.
That missed proved costly as Thurtell ran into the penalty box from the right-hand side before striking the ball low and hard and subsequently beating Dowisha at the front post with a well-taken finish.
Substitute Brennan made it 3-0 six minutes later when he too cut in from the right before launching a curling shot past Dowisha to secure all three points as the Gully shot-stopper did well to ensure the lead was not extending by making a wonderful save to deny Litfin from adding another goal.
***
Over in Fawkner, the Warriors almost grabbed an early lead when new signing Ivan Grgic was left unmarked at the far post but failed to connect with the ball as the visitors shouted in vain for a penalty.
Van’t Schip had his first opportunity on goal 10 minutes later, only for his curling effort to go sailing off target. Although the Dutchman wasn’t to be denied in the 23rd minute when he chested the ball down before hitting it with his left foot as it sailed past Daniel Zilic into the bottom corner of the net.
North Geelong were back on level terms five minutes later when new signing Andrew Doig played in Kene Eze on the counter, with the marksman making no mistake in rounding Alex Pavlidis for the goal.
Warriors substitute Juso Julardzija and Vale captain Joseph Youssef both had opportunities to win the game in the second half, with the latter failing to capitalise on a gilt-edged opportunity in added time to claim all three points in front of a healthy audience in attendance at the picturesque venue.
Micky Colina’s men next face off against Bentleigh at home next Saturday while Vitale Ferrante’s men travel to Knights Stadium where they face the Melbourne Knights on Friday evening.