By Ahmed Yussuf 

Photo: Hume City FC

Hume City moved a step closer to finals football after piping table-toppers Bentleigh Greens 3-0 on Saturday night at ABD Stadium. 

Former Brisbane Roar man Jai Ingham scored early on to open the scoring, while Hume captain Nick Hegarty grabbed a spectacular second half brace to seal the victory. 

Hume pounced within two minutes with a counter attack.

Goalkeeper Alistair Bray came out with authority to sweep up the danger, but was caught out in no-man’s-land when he missed timed his leap.

Winger Ingham was there to pick the scraps heading into an empty net a few yards out from goal. 

Ingham was causing trouble for the Bentleigh defence with his pace and trickery down the right flank.

Clever link-up play with teammate Daniel Clark put the former Morton Bay man in position shot on goal, however Bray came up with a comfortable stop.  

Bentleigh began to gain momentum in the game.  

Ryan DeVries had his dinked ball over the top to captain Wayne Wallace cut out by Hume shot-stopper Oldfield.  

However not long after Wallace would cause confusion and danger in the heart of the Hume defence.

Oldfield rushed out of his quarters to smoother Wallace’s shot from close range - the deflection went sky born and right into the area, but defender Petar Franjic mopped up the danger.

Luke O’Dea starts to make his presence felt in proceedings and came up with a neat bit of dribbling inside the area passing Hume markers by with ease, but Oldfield produced a superb fingertip save to push O’Dea’s shot wide of the far post.  

O’Dea was at it again, this time with a header testing Oldfield.

The Englishman was equal to the task tipping the header over the bar preserving Hume’s lead.  

Deep into the second half, Luke Pilkington’s foul disrupted Markelis’ dribble inside the penalty area.

The referee blew and pointed to the spot, with Hegarty stepping up to take the penalty and scoring with ease. 

In stoppage time, Steven Topalovic received a second yellow card after an innocuous handball and was sent off.  

Then with almost final kick of the game Hegarty found himself in space on the halfway line and spotted substitute goalkeeper Ryan Scott off his line and tried a shot from distance.

The strike flew over Scott's head, and the Hume captain capped off the win with a goal of the season contender. 

MATCH DETAILS: 

Hume City 3 (Ingham 2’, Hegarty 81’ 90+3’) defeated 0 Bentleigh Greens at ABD Stadium, Broadmeadows Valley Park.

Hume City: 1. Chris OLDFIELD, 2. Daniel Chabaani, 3. Shaun TIMMINS, 4. Isyan ERDOGAN, 5. Petar FRANJIC, 7. Jai INGHAM (11. Ivan PAVLAK 79’), 8. Theo MARKELIS, 17 Marcus SCHOREN, 13. Shane REXHEPI, 39. Nick HEGARTY, 12. Daniel CLARK (15. Liam NEWMAN 82’)

Unused Substitutes: 20. Tom BANFIELD, 21. Kristian TRAJECESKI, 19. Sam BENINATO

Yellow Card(s): 4. Isyan ERDOGAN 14’, 7. Jai INGHAM 62’

Red Card(s): Nil

Bentleigh Greens: 21. Alastair BRAY (1. Ryan SCOTT 51’), 4. Troy RUTHVEN (16. Luke O’DEA 42’), 5. Jack WEBSTER, 7. Jamie DE ABREU, 17. Ryan LOVE (11. Dion KIRK 66’), 8. Wayne WALLACE, 19. Daniel VISEVIC, 10. Tyson HOLMES, 23. Ryan DE VRIES, 24. Luke PILKINGTON, 36. Steven TOPALOVIC

Unused Substitute(s): 9. Chris LUCAS, 6. Liam MCCORMICK 

Yellow Card(s): 19. Daniel VISEVIC 68’, 5. Jack WEBSTER 76’, 36. Steven TOPALOVIC 71’ 91’, 

Red Card(s): 36. Steven TOPALOVIC 91’