What a surreal way for Heidelberg United’s 2019 Premier League campaign to end. Far from home and against a team we’d mostly consigned to the scrapheap for the year. It’s enough to cast a pall on the arrival of spring. So those bloody Bentleigh Greens roll on into the Grand Final and George Katsakis and his miracle-makers have several wounds to lick before the carnival moves on to a date with Perth SC in the NPL Cup, in a little over a week’s time.
In the end the Alexander army had been defeated by forces it didn’t really understand. They’d survived a long winter campaign and a dramatic regular season finale, fighting each week as if it was its last, winning with desperate charges late in games, living right on the edge. Brothers in arms, fighting each battle as one. The impossible followed the improbable and it felt like it would never end, could never end.
There were few brothers in arms at the final whistle on Saturday evening. The Heidelberg players mostly walked – in some cases strode – off the ground and up the tunnel in disbelieving solitude, mostly silent. A few quiet words and the odd pat on the back from fans on their way into the sheds. A mix of numbness and furious disappointment. Chances missed. A Grand Final goes begging.
Explaining away Bentleigh’s upset win is an inexact science. Ask a dozen people and you’ll get a dozen answers. There were palpable tensions, some recrimination and fingers were pointed both inside the inner sanctum and amongst supporters as the enormity of defeat sunk in. The acrimony and frustration was understandable. Expectations were not met. This was not how it was supposed to end. This is not how it is supposed to feel. As one player confided: “The best thing in football is that feeling you have for 30 minutes after a win. You just feel shit after a loss, any loss. And that feeling lasts much longer”.
The pressure and responsibility of a Semi-Final is enormous. It’s a more heartbreaking game to lose than the Grand Final. At least after the big one its moth balls for everyone and you have fought out the last game of the season.
Was preparation poor, or were they simply just flat on the day? Maybe big game fatigue. How many time can these mighty modern-day Warriors go to the well? Over-confidence perhaps? Determination and courage simply
weren’t enough. Bentleigh Greens just wanted to win it more. And they made less uncustomary mistakes.
I wonder if Heidelberg fans – of which I am one – were somehow reflective of the malaise that fell over our ‘Invincibles’ under the Port Melbourne lights. Did we get ahead of ourselves? I reckon way too far ahead. One mad-keen supporter had already designed and made a magnificent black and yellow banner, ready to unfurl on Grand Final day. I’m as guilty as any. I’d already commenced writing a Grand Final preview, for goodness sakes. When the Warriors equalized on Saturday night, you could feel the fans sit back and relax a bit. Here they come, we thought. Over-confidence. Hubris. We had it coming. We all left Shark Park bearing some odd relic of lost hope.
Perhaps the Bentleigh Greens now have the momentum to steam through and win the Grand Final. It pains me to say so, but I hope they do. They’ve been a praiseworthy opponent during the three years otherwise dominated by Heidelberg Alexander. Hume City broke the two club nexus in 2019 with a Dockerty Cup success, otherwise Bentleigh and the Warriors shave shared 10 of the past 11 Victorian domestic trophies between them. The rivalry is the stuff of lore, so at least one of the big two will by flying the standard on Grand Final day.
Just a word on the playing and coaching group. I’ve heard a little from the moaners and complainers since the Semi Final loss and it doesn’t sit well. Sure, let off a bit of steam. But try and let it go, for goodness sake. One thing I’ve truly come to appreciate since rejoining the club and getting something of an insight into the playing group away from football, that they are still just people. They hurt too and they will be stung by missing the Grand Final. They make mistakes. They are fallible. They can be fragile and they can be insecure. And these guys really have nothing at all to prove. They’ve given us more bang for buck over the past three seasons than could have ever reasonably expected. We have overdosed on supporter bliss. So cut ‘em a break and have a little faith that they can regroup for the Perth game.
The question is as always, have they got another one in them? You bet they do. They ain’t the greatest team in club history for nothing. Game on. Bring it. Warrior Nation. So proud.
