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Jul 10, 2013   |  2:29PM AET

VIDEO: Spoils shared with Bentleigh Greens

VIDEO: Spoils shared with Bentleigh Greens

Melbourne Victory continued their pre-season preparations in a 1-all draw against a well-organised Bentleigh Greens outfit at Kingston Heath Reserve on Tuesday night.

Melbourne Victory continued their pre-season preparations in a 1-all draw against a well-organised Bentleigh Greens outfit at Kingston Heath Reserve on Tuesday night.

With a number of Melbourne-s senior squad still on international duty, the match was an opportunity for some of the younger players to show their talent ahead of the highly-anticipated pre-season friendly against Liverpool on July 24.

Press play on the above video to see the goals and highlights from the match, as well as Billy Celeski’s thoughts on the encounter.

And they came close to having the perfect start when Chris Cristaldo rounded the keeper, but he was unable to keep his balance to give Victory an early lead.

It was Bentleigh Greens who then seized the initiative by opening the scoring in the 24th minute after a composed finish from Dan Milovanovic, who calmly brought the ball down before slotting the ball into the net.

Melbourne-s shaky start to the night continued as Jesse Makarounas was forced off with an injury in the first half, being replaced by Francesco Stella, who almost had an immediate impact with a deflected shot just past the post.

Victory continued to search for an equaliser and came close through Billy Celeski, as his powerful strike from 20 yards also took a deflection before fizzing past the upright.

It was all Victory in the second half, with the Hyundai A-League side applying plenty of pressure on the home side and they finally got reward for their effort only minutes from time thanks to a tap-in from striker Andrew Nabbout, scoring his second goal in two games.

Victory endeavoured to find a late winner but were held by a resilient and well-structured Bentleigh defence, and were made to settle for the draw.

They will look to bounce back in their next pre-season match against Port Melbourne at the S.S Anderson Reserve next Tuesday.

Melbourne Victory 1 (Nabbout)
Bentleigh Greens 1 (Milovanovic)

Melbourne Victory XI: Lawrence Thomas (GK) Luc Jeggo, Jason Geria, Adrian Leijer, Scott Galloway, Jimmy Jeggo, Leigh Broxham, Billy Celeski (Dylan Murnane), Jesse Makarounas (Francesco Stella), Andrew Nabbout, Chris Cristaldo (John Buceto).

Main picture: Frank Khamees/Sportsgraphy