The rejuvenation process is surely starting to take shape as Heidelberg United eased past Altona Magic in its home game away from home at Fawkner’s CB Smith Reserve yesterday afternoon.
Following on from the defeat to their bogey side Oakleigh Cannons last Friday night, Zahra and co. were due to impress in the ‘Little Mexican’s’ milestone game. The Warriors were convincing in the 3-1 win over Altona, although they were made to work hard for the points.
Much of the credit for the victory can be accredited to the notable impact of some of the pre-season additions, who are slowly fitting into George Katsakis’ plans along with the inspirational Zahra who shone in this special game.
Lachlan Barr opened his Heidelberg account with a towering header from a Lucas Derrick corner early on.
Dusan Bosnjak, one of the new acquisitions, had a solid performance and almost had his name on the scoresheet. However, he curled a left-footed just over the bar in the first half, before going narrowly wide with a diving header in the second stanza.
Adrian Zahra could not have asked for an easier way to score a brace in his 100th game, scoring twice from two penalties in the second half.
“It was a very good result something we needed to bounce back obviously from a bit late turn around last week – it was a bit unfortunate, but it’s good from the boys” said Adrian Zahra.
Zahra was asked about the change of personnel and how they have transitioned from the previous few seasons.
“It’s been good from some of the boys – they’ve come in, and respect what we’ve achieved, and they are trying to bring their own sort of game”.
A somewhat reflective and subdued George Katsakis summed it up with:
“You’re always happy with a win, so l’m happy to take the three points and go. (But) the way we executed our game plan, our intensity was nowhere near it (today), but fortunately enough we were able to score three goals and come away as winners.”
Match Detalis:
Heidelberg United FC 3 (Barr 8’, Zahra 69’ (pen), 90’ (pen)) – 1 Altona Magic (Hammen 56’)
Team Line Up:
GK – 1 – Chris Theodoridis
3 – Les Doumbalis
5 – Ajdin Fetahagic
7 – Reuben Way (capt)
8 – Dusan Bojnak (20 – Luka Ninkovic 77’)
9 – Adrian Zahra
10 – Jack Petrie
11 – Lucas Derrick
13 – Lachlan Barr
19 – Sean Ellis (18 – Anthony Theodoropoulos 71’)
22 – James Demetriou (21 – Aamir Abdalla 60’)
Substitutes Not Used:
GK – 63 – Nick Eres
4 – Christopher Dib
