The Greens have battled over the past month but managed to hold an in-form Hume side goalless in windy conditions.

 

Although Bentleigh remains in the bottom two despite the point, it holds a game in hand and is only goals scored away from safety.

 

For Hume, a win would have seen it keep the pressure on Richmond for the minor premiership but instead it has drifted three points back with a game to play.

 

City made three changes to the side that easily dismantled of Altona Magic last week, opting to bring in Dusko Delic and Alfonso Opazo into the centre of midfield in place of Ross Thompson and Tansel Baser.

 

Up front, Turhan Sumbul replaced Zoran Petrevski.

 

The Greens made three changes to the team easily beaten by the Melbourne Knights in round 20.

 

Each of Anthony Selemidis, Christopher Sanita and Vasilios Natsioulas came in for Adam Fadljevic, Jack Webster and Dean Piemonte.

 

Despite working into a strong breeze in the first half, City created the first change inside four minutes.

 

A long cross field pass from Fabio Dilizia was brought down by Sumbul, only for Opazo to scuff his shot directly at Peter Gavalas.

 

Shooter turned provider a minute later as Opazo fed Sumbul behind the Greens defence, only for Gavalas to deny the young striker after leaving his line.

 

Bentleigh also pushed forward and its best early chance fell for Selemidis after a quickly taken free kick, but the winger was dispossessed trying to improve the angle by cutting inside.

 

With the game played at a high tempo Sumbul beat marker George Stavridis on the left and despite his cut back causing some danger, it was eventually cleared.

 

The Greens misused the breeze in the latter stages of the half, often over hitting long passes.

 

Hume successfully dealt with a number of long throw-ins from Stavridis.

 

After a period of aerial ping-pong in first half stoppage time, Greens midfielder Alex Rojas sprayed a low shot wide.

 

City almost went ahead 10 minutes into the second half after a corner from Michael Bosevski, but Dilizia sent his header inches wide.

 

Bentleigh defender Sam De Vito had a fine chance on the hour mark after a free kick from Rojas, but he shot straight at the largely untroubled Lupce Acevski from a tight angle.

 

The introduction of Thompson for the final 20 minutes proved a fine move for Hume.

 

His free kick again found Dilizia, but the defender put a header from inside six yards wide.

 

Bentleigh crafted one of the game's cleanest chances on 79 minutes.

 

Craig Smart sent a whipping ball in the direction of young striker Damir Lokvancic, but the experienced Acevski denied the forward with a strong save.

 

The relatively quiet Richard Cardozo was the next to go close, but his whipping corner was punched clear by Gavalas after he used the breeze.

 

Bosevski again found Dilizia from a corner, but the defender put a header wide for the third time on 83 minutes.

 

Despite Hume's best efforts it was to finish scoreless after Thompson sent a stinging free kick wide and substitute striker Burak Ozdemir back heeled a late chance into the side netting.