IT took 90 minutes for Green Gully Cavaliers coach Peter Ollerton to be fuming with his players and questioning the judgement of the match referee.
'Olly', the former Australian international who wears his heart on his sleeve, stormed away from the Gully changeroom minutes after the final whistle without a post-match address for his players.
It was a frustrating day at the office for Ollerton who watched on as his wasteful side lost 2-1 to Hume City in the Victorian Premier League season opener at Green Gully Reserve on Saturday.
"The game should have been finished at half-time ... end of story," he said.
"We destroyed them in the first half.
"I've not even spoken to the players after the game because their hearts broke.
"They know they should have got something out of the game."
It was all one-way traffic in the first half.
Gully had several chances to build a lead only to be foiled by a five-star performance from City goalkeeper Lupce Acevski.
Even Acevski's presence on the field drew the ire of Ollerton.
"Lou Acevski made two or three great saves," he said.
"But, he probably shouldn't have been on the ground."
The incident in question came late in the first half and a minor scuffle broke out.
The referee was right on the spot and decided to continue with 11-on-11.
For all the Gully huffing and puffing before half-time, it was City which had the best chance to break the deadlock when striker Zoran Petrevski stepped up to take a 36th-minute penalty.
His shot to the bottom right corner was saved by Gully goalkeeper Kenny Gerohchristodoulou.
The man affectionately known as 'Kenny G' would have his defences breached five minutes into the second half.
He was powerless to save a powerful Tansel Baser volley from the top of the penalty box.
With City 1-0 up, Gully responded with Graham Hockless' early nomination for goal of the year.
The one-time VPL Gold Medal winner smashed a dipping left-footed strike from outside the penalty box to catch Acevski off-guard and level the scores at 1-1.
The script would not be delivered to the Football Federation Victoria just yet.
The sending off of City midfielder Ross Thompson for a crude challenge on Hockless was supposed to swing the game in the home side's favour.
However, the Gully faithful sounded a collective groan when City player-coach Andy Vlahos found recruit Richie Cardozo at the far post to nod home the winning goal off the under side of the cross bar. "I said to the boys at half-time the problem is now you've done all the attacking, they've done absolutely bugger all and they're still in the game," Ollerton lamented.
"They got a couple of chances and scored two goals, so credit to them."
Gully has a short turn-around to right the wrongs of their first-up loss. They face Richmond Eagles at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Friday; kick-off 8.30pm.
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