By Greg Blake
Heidelberg United appeared to be on a seamless course to victory against ten-man Bentleigh Greens on Saturday afternoon when Fletcher Fulton made his return from injury, off the bench. A sunny preview of spring, a 2-0 Olympic Village scoreboard and the sight of the Tassie battle tank coming into the game blended to produce a joyous cocktail only Alexander fans could enjoy.
The Hellas win last week was big but tension-filled. Saturday was the first time in bloody ages that the Warriors played with assuredness and certainty and never looked likely to waver after goals from Ciaran Bramwell and Marcus Humbert set up the win inside the opening 22 minutes. As for Fulton’s return, well, what’s not to like about the ‘F-Bomb’.
Saturday’s final round produced a couple of surprises and concluded with an Alexander team seemingly on its knees and gasping for CPR two weeks back now rapidly evolving into a credible live chance in the playoffs. Out of the top six just last week for the first time in nearly two years, the Bentleigh win was enough for the Warriors to clamber over Preston and claim fifth spot and an elimination final next Saturday against South Melbourne.
Bentleigh had the better form going in to Saturday’s game and Yaren Sozer was tested during a chaotic opening five minutes, but as the game settled, so did Alexander. Choc Dau angled a 16th minute corner inside and on the deck for Humbert, who further progressed the arc by hitting Anthony Lesiotis near the top of the penalty area.
Lesiotis had a decent whack from a distance and Bramwell, caught in the ball’s path, engineered the slightest change of direction and clipped Lesiotis’ in-coming with his right in-step to ensure it speed past the reach of Bentleigh goalkeeper Andrew Withers. Another welcome return from injury, Karl O’Sullivan, had eyes a’ smiling with his performance and he might have added a second goal moments later, his effort sweeping just over the crossbar.
Bramwell is like a hungry german shepherd protecting the back yard at the moment. His game on Saturday was a beauty, again setting the team standard for the run, chase, harry and harass in the front third-style game and keeping defensive opponents in a perpetual state of nervy uncertainty.
Heidelberg pressed home their increasingly telling advantage on 22 minutes, with Dau’s cross from deep on the right looping backwards off the head of a near-post defender and into the path of a predatory Humbert, who dashed between a couple of bemused opponents and almost leisurely left-footed home from close range.
The game was essentially over as a contest just minutes after half time when a former Berger favorite, fiery Deion Nikolaidis, earned a second yellow card and was sent off, leaving an already ailing Bentleigh Greens two goals down and one player short.
But if Saturday’s game could be distilled into a moment, surely it was the Lesiotis chase down and perfect slide to pick-pocket the running Petratos from behind was it. The little Heidelberg champ gave Petrataos a 20 yard start to affect the steal. Inspirational.
Tass Mourdoukoutas was terrific against Bentleigh, working to set up plays quarterback style from deep. And the return to near full fitness of Rooney Medal-winner Max Bisetto could hardly be more timely. While Asahi Yokokawa is a pacy and elusive sports car, Bisetto is more the nitro burning dragster, with a Hemi V8 engine. He may have skill and guile, but Bisetto’s raw speed off the mark is so tough to coach or play against.
With minimalist efficiency, skipper, Ben Collins, summed up the fifth place finish as something of a reprieve after going so close to missing the finals completely. “Yeah, relief is probably the key word,” he told the club’s Facebook page.
“You know, we were not confirmed for finals up until today, so to lock it in is, you know, really special”, Collins explained. “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks, and before that, you know, a tough sort of two months as well. So to, you know, put all that behind us and lock in the final series, that was our aim once we were out of the cup competition, so we’re in the mix to give it a push”
The timely return of injured players may be telling in what is essentially a cut-throat but do-able three games in three weeks campaign to retain the Victorian championship. With the exception of Hume City, the Warriors have beaten every other top six team at least once this season, including impressive road triumphs at Oakleigh, Preston and, most recently, at South Melbourne. With Alexander’s apparent rediscovered spark and return to form, who knows.
Be guarded, be nervous. Lower your expectations. That’s my inner monologue trying to spoil the potentially three weeks of finals to come for the Bergers in 2026. Yeah, nah. I’m on the bandwagon again and the lid is well and truly off. Alexander’s Army is on the march once again.
Can we win it again?. My bloody oath we can. Warrior Nation!
