In some ways it was a case of history repeating itself on Thursday night, as the NPL’s two great rivals, Bentleigh Greens and South Melbourne, contested the FFV Community Shield for the second year running.
And as it was last year, the result favoured the home team, with the Greens running-out winners 2-1. Like last year, the game had niggles and tension and like last year, the Greens’ Troy Ruthven scored another long- range missile. However, this year’s match was a much closer game than last year’s contest and could easily have gone either way.
South dominated the opening stanza, forcing the Greens to defend deep and desperately as South’s players lined up for shots on goal which were repeatedly charged down by lunging Greens defenders. Newly-signed South centre back Carl Piergianni narrowly missed scoring on debut when his header flew over the bar, while ex-Green Liam McCormick had a back header cleared off the goal line by Greens skipper Jack Webster. The Greens, on the other hand, were often forced to play long balls to transition from defence to attack rather than their customary fluent passing game.
South’s McCormick took no prisoners, with a scything tackle on Greens forward Ross Honos. The Greens began to assert its passing game in the latter part of the half and looked more comfortable in possession. New signing Ben Litfin, playing as a number 10, missed an excellent chance when he chipped the ball past South keeper Nick Roganovic, but wide of the far post. Greens mid, Tyson Homes, playing in a deeper role than his customary playmaker role, struck the upright with a shot from outside the box.
After a scoreless first half, the Greens drew first blood in the 60th minute, when a Kieran Dover through ball sliced open South’s defence, putting Liftin through on goal. As he drove into the box he squared the ball to Honos, who made no mistake to open the scoring. The last half hour saw numerous interchanges from both sides with both coaches introducing new signings. Midfielder Luke Pavlou and Gavin DeNiese made their debuts for South and Keanu Moore and Trent Clulow for the Greens.
Meanwhile Kieran Dover cut in and fired goal-ward for the Greens only to be denied by an excellent Roganovic diving save.
South had a Milos Lujic goal ruled offside just after the 80th minute. To add salt to the wound, the Greens’ Troy Ruthven doubled the Greens’ lead with a 20-metre missile which took a deflection into the net. Lujic gave South a lifeline minutes later when he found the net, sparking an all-in goalmouth melee as opposition players fought for the ball to restart the match. Once the dust settled, the Greens held off the fast-finishing visitors through five minutes of extra time to capture the Shield trophy for the second year running. Bentleigh’s Kieran Dover was awarded the man of the match award.
After the match, South Melbourne coach Chris Taylor commented: “Two top teams, bragging rights there. They probably got the rub of the Green today − a deflected goal. I thought we had a couple of calls for penalties. In a charity game, I understand there’s got to be a bit of goodwill and that, but the referee must have been doing that for nothing. There were a couple of contentious decisions I thought. That’s the way it goes in them sort of games. Charity game, charity referee.”
“It’s another one in the bank for us and that’s what football’s about,” Bentleigh Greens coach John Anastasiadis said after the match. “That’s what I told the boys at the start of the game. You play football to win trophies. Today was a good start for us. I thought South Melbourne was very good in the first 20 minutes. They really put the pressure on us. A bit more physical than normal, but after that we came into the game and I thought bar the last five minutes we were completely in control. Teams will go out and play aggressive and that’s part of football. You’ve got to deal with it.
“At the end of the day, the boys kept their heads. We go out there, we just want to play football and that’s what they did. They knocked the ball around extremely well. We got into some great pockets. The rotations worked exceptionally well today. And all that was great to see from the boys today.”