By Greg Blake
Sick in the guts, absolutely. But losing a thriller 2-1 on the road at Avondale is not a disaster, because simply, the day had to come. The unbeaten run is history. And Avondale deserved it. Ahead at half time thanks to Bul Juach, Heidelberg had no answer to the Avengers desperate and dangerous second half.
Avondale’s terrific win aside, it was the final thirty minutes that might just have derailed an entire season, or a large portion of it. The damage done to Heidelberg United on this day – in isolation – is less an issue than further ramifications moving into the business end of the season. That’s why I’m sick in the guts.
For the record, the Avengers were terrific. Avondale fairly exploded into action after half time – think Michael Bay with a tank of propane gas and a box of matches – and had a goal disallowed inside the opening minute to reset the tone of the game. Stefan Zinni’s fuel-injected launch off off the bench 50 minutes in shifted the balance utterly.
Ben Collins’ send off with 13 minutes – which became nearly half an hour, but more of that later – remaining meant that by game’s end the Warriors were playing a man short and were staggering with a makeshift defensive unit missing three of its four regular starters and was struggling to hold back a rising tide of Avondale bravado.
Sparks flew, some cheapies were handed out, a couple of wrestles and push-and-shoves ensued. It got serious, real quick. It should. The stakes were enormous. The premium for success on Saturday was so finely balanced. A win and Heidelberg’s relentless 2025 is capped by a two game break at the top, with two to play. For the Avengers it was a must win to stay alive alive in the premiership race.
A George Ott penalty on 81 minutes levelled the scores. A Stefan Valentini winner in the 13th minute of extra time sealed a deserved win. My mistake. No extra time in the regular season. No, the winning Valentini strike came at the 90 + 13min into the actual 90+14min of playing time, making Saturday’s game the way longest of any this season.
You wouldn’t reckon much could spoil a delightfully sunny Saturday afternoon in leafy Parkville, watching a thriller played out between two heavyweights of the competition and whose fates have seemed inexorably linked since the 2018 grand final. And with the 2025 premiership probably on the line to boot.
But I walked away on Saturday – as did many of the Alexander supporters at the ground – sick in the guts and so desperately disappointed for Ben Collins, whose send off means he will miss the chance to captain his team in the Dockerty Cup final next Saturday.
Collins may have been the culprit in conceding Avondale’s penalty equaliser on a crowded goal-line, but hardly conclusive evidence of any deliberate act would surely mean just a yellow for Collins, under the ‘double jeopardy’ regulation.
Collins – who has been booked just twice this season prior to the weekend – was the very first Alexander player to be sent off in any of the club’s 29 league and cup games before the Avondale loss. And it wasn’t the only red card brandished during the very late game pandemonium, with Warrior’s Football Director, Nick Deligiannis, copping one for goodness knows what as some stragglers strayed within arm’s length of the Heidelberg bench.
As I understand it, Anthony Lesiotis, will be missing when the Warriors take on Oakleigh in the critical round 25 game at Olympic Village, as a result of him also being booked on Saturday, during that fateful final half hour. In all five – or possibly six – Heidelberg players were booked during that 30 minute period.
Alexander has taken great pride in on-field discipline in 2025 and going into half time on Saturday – the club’s 30th game of the season in league and cup – the Warriors boasted by far the best disciplinary record in the NPL. Not a single send off and 2,655 minutes of game time for only 34 yellow cards. Or one every 68 or so minutes.
Two reds and six yellows in half an hour on Saturday. Give me a break!
As for the great time anomaly, yep, you might just about milk ten minutes of time added on from the hectic 90 preceding minutes. But to find another four minutes inside the initial ten is hard! Find a timepiece and check it yourself on replay. Yaren Sozer was hurt, so maybe an extra minute there, but extending the game out to 90 + 14 was an onerous error in my opinion
If there were four added minutes to every ten played, full games would extend to 90 + 35 or more.
That off my chest, the better news is that the sun will rise tomorrow and we fight on. Fletcher Fulton will be back, as will ‘Whispering Death’ , Jamal Ali, and it’s on to the Dockerty Cup final next Saturday against revitalised South Melbourne, followed by a massive Australia Cup tie against Western Sydney Wanderers. Warrior Nation!
