VICTORIAN Premier League finals hopefuls Hume City and Green Gully have played out a 0-0 draw at Broadmeadows Valley Park, keeping the race for a finals spot tight.
The result propels Hume to second on the table on goal difference, while the Cavaliers sneak into fifth, just a solitary point ahead of Heidelberg and Sunshine with two rounds remaining.
Green Gully coach Peter Ollerton said the scoreless encounter was a fair outcome for both sides.
“I thought both sides defended very, very well, and I thought we defended brilliantly in the second half,” he said.
Ollerton said the windy conditions made life difficult for both sides in their attempts to break the deadlock.
“It was basically a game of two halves with the wind conditions plus the ground was very hard and very bumpy. I don’t think it’s the ground where you can really try and put four or five passes together.”
The former Socceroo said his side was in need of more strikers, and they would be high on Green Gully’s wish-list come the transfer period in the off-season.
“It will be my prime objective next year to get a couple of players, and a bit of power up front. We’ve got young kids in. Aziz (Behich) is only 18, and Joel Nikolic is in his early twenties, still developing. Overall, happy result.”
Hume assistant coach Leigh Tsoumerkas said he, much like his counterpart, was satisfied with a draw.
“Two tough teams, a share of the points is probably a fair result,” he said. “The conditions weren’t the best. We had a couple of good opportunities, they had a couple of good opportunities, but you know we got a result that we wanted, we didn’t concede, so we’ll keep going from that.”
Tsoumerkas said his side was looking to finish the season strongly to secure a finals spot. “We’re at home (for both games), and it’s a tough place to come and play.
“It’s going to be two more battles with two teams.”
Tsoumerkas said the game was a “scrap” due to the wind conditions, and passes were hard to control, making scoring opportunities rare gems.
City thought they had stolen a victory in the 89th minute when forward Zoran Petrevski found the back of the net, but the offside flag was raised and City’s hopes of an extra two points were dashed.
Hume and Green Gully both encounter Richmond and Oakleigh in the remaining two rounds, with the former now being statistically out of finals contention.
In other VPL results, Sunshine kept its finals hopes alive in its promotion season with a 1-0 victory against Melbourne Knights on Friday night.
