By Rory Flanagan (@Rory_Flanagan)

Bentleigh Greens played out a combative 1-1 draw with Pascoe Vale at Kingston Heath on Friday night.

After a poor start and conceding early to Joseph Youseff's bullet header, the Greens dominated proceedings but were only able to muster a 55th-minute equaliser from the boot of Brent McGrath.

The Vale were not without their own chances, as Luca Santilli went close to pinching all three points with two glorious opportunities after coming off the bench.

Less than 10 seconds into the match, last year's grand finalists should have been behind. A woeful back-header eventuated in a great chance for Youseff, but the skipper could only fire straight at Stuart Webster.

After a positive display in a 2-0 loss at the hands of Melbourne Knights last week, the visitors were once again up for the contest, particularly Adrian Talarico and Nathen Megic - the latter receiving a yellow card for clattering his opposite number Jamie Cumming inside five minutes.

The Greens succumbed to the early pressure and slack marking from returning skipper Wayne Wallace allowed Youseff to thump a header into the back of the net from Michael Ferrante's corner in the eighth minute.

Falling behind seemed to provide the necessary wake-up call for Johnny Anastasiadis's men, who then began to control the game.

Tom Matthews' deflected cross almost put his side back on level terms after a wonderfully constructed move released the Bentleigh full-back down the right flank.

Well and truly on top, the hosts were presented with corner after corner but each lacked quality execution and were comfortably repelled by the Pascoe Vale defence, who preserved their clean sheet to lead at the interval.
 
Perhaps overly conscious of the Greens’ attacking prowess, Vitale Ferrante's men sat deeper and invited their hosts to come at them in the second half.

Livewire Brent McGrath was a changed man after the break and drew a stunning save from Sardelic with a vicious volley five minutes in. The man whose only Socceroos cap came in a 2-1 win over Germany in 2011, didn't have to wait much longer as he pounced on a loose ball inside the area and blasted a left-footed strike into the roof of the net.

On the hour mark, Ferrante introduced the Santilli duo in place of Roberto De Vito and Davey Van't Schip.

It was Luca Santilli who almost had an immediate impact in a goalmouth scramble but couldn't get a shot away before Cumming and Jack Webster rescued their stranded 'keeper.

Scorer of the long-range winner in last week's win over Northcote, Luc Jeggo found space outside the box and tried his luck, narrowly firing wide of Sardelic's bottom right corner.

The hosts ramped up the pressure and only a lunging last-ditch block from Mark Pistininzi denied McGrath what would surely have been a winning goal.

Pascoe Vale had one final chance of its own, as Santilli again raced into the box and beat Webster to the ball but opted for a first-time flick rather than going around the 'keeper, who was able to make a crucial save.

A reflective Anastasiadis praised his team's footballing display despite the result.

"We’ve run our statistics and we see that we completely dominated the game. Look, I’m proud of the boys. I’m proud of the team and I’d prefer them to play this way and play like last week. Even though we got the win last week, we really didn’t play the football that we know we can play,” Anastasiadis said.

Counterpart Vitale Ferrante was delighted to get a goal, let alone a point.

"We did everything well to win the ball, we turned it over but I’m extremely happy with the result we got. What I’m happy about is we scored our first goal and that’s sort of been coming,” Ferrante said.

“We finally broke that hoodoo and we created a good couple of opportunities to even get another goal which against Bentleigh – who are extremely dangerous, a great side – is really promising for us.”

MATCH DETAILS

Bentleigh Greens 1 (McGrath 55’) drew Pascoe Vale 1 (Youseff 8’) at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex [HT: 0-1]

Bentleigh Greens: Stuart WEBSTER (GK), Thomas MATTHEWS, James CUMMING, Jack WEBSTER, 15. Christian CAVALLO, Wayne WALLACE (C), Luc JEGGO, Steve HATZIKOSTAS (Kyle NIX 77’), Anthony PROIA (Jamie DE ABREU 74’) Brent MCGRATH, David STIRTON.

Unused subs: Alastair BRAY (GK), Liam McCormick, Nicholas MODAFFARI.

Yellow Cards: None

Red cards: None

Pascoe Vale: Stefaan SARDELIC (GK), Adrian TALARICO, Nathen MEGIC, Tomislav MILARDOVIC, Roberto DI VITO (Marco SANTILLI 60', Joseph YOUSEFF (C), Davey VAN'T SCHIP (Luca SANTILLI 60'), Alvaro CARRILLO, Mark PISTININZI, Alistair DUNLOP, Michael FERRANTE

Unused subs: Eli LUTTMER, Matthew LAZARIDES, Yaren SOZER

Yellow cards: Megic 4'

Red cards: None

Pictured: Pascoe Vale's Davey Van't Schip (image credit: The Sporting Wall)