Hume City FC’s solid run of wins has come to as a halt as we were held to a 1-1 draw by Green Gully in Keilor Downs on Friday night.

Green Gully started the stronger of the two sides in an intense opening, with the home side creating the first major chance of the match. A crucial last-ditch clearance Aaron Calver kept the scores level early on.

Despite being the dominant team for the majority of the match and had many chances at goal, Birkan Kirdar’s first half penalty was cancelled out in the second half with the game unable to find a winner.

That moment sparked us into life, with Hume City going on to dominate the next 10 minutes of play – the best opportunity came in the 16th minute when Chris Engelhart found himself through on goal, but Green Gully goalkeeper Luca Romic produced a strong save before backing it up moments later with another impressive stop to deny Adisu Bayew.

Our pressure soon paid off as a beautifully weighted through ball sent Birkan Kirdar in behind the defence, and as he went one-on-one with Romic, the midfielder was brought down inside the area. Kirdar stepped up himself and calmly converted the resulting penalty with a confident strike straight down the middle to give Hume City a deserving lead.

Green Gully gradually worked their way back into the contest with several dangerous set pieces, though goalkeeper Chris Oldfield dealt with them comfortably. 

Hume continued to threaten the goal, with Kirdar forcing another acrobatic save from Romic before Brayden Spink headed narrowly wide from the resulting corner.

Hume came out strongly again after halftime. Engelhart went close within the opening five minutes, his effort from a tight angle flashing across the face of goal. Bayew almost doubled the lead shortly after following a neat passing move involving Spink and Kirdar, but his shot sailed just over the crossbar.

While Hume City pushed for a second goal, it was the home side who found the equaliser in fortunate circumstances as Green Gully’s Josh Lochhead’s powerful header from a deflected corner saw Oldfield get a hand to, but could not keep out.

The momentum shifted quickly in Green Gully’s favour after the goal as the Cavaliers nearly took the lead moments later when another deflected cross skimmed across the goal line.

Hume still had chances to reclaim the lead. Khoder Kaddour came close in the 68th minute when the ball fell kindly to him inside the box following a deflection but he sent the ball over the bar, while a strong penalty shout after Bayew was brought down went unanswered not long after.

Green Gully pushed for a late winner, but Oldfield produced another strong save to keep the hosts at bay before Bingham nearly got onto the end of a deep cross, but in the end we could not find the decisive goal as the points were shared.

Hume City will next face Dandenong Thunder at NASIOL Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 2pm AEDT on Saturday 14 March.