A 10 man Heidelberg United side overcame a 1 nil deficit to stun the Sunshine Georgies with a 2-1 defeat at the Olympic Village in the postponed Queens Birthday weekend fixture.
The Georgies recent form going into the match had been very promising with 2 wins and a draw in the last three matches, including a stirring 2-1 win over title aspirants Oakleigh. However as was the case in early June the Georgies momentum was halted with yet another postponed fixture against the Melbourne Knights last week.
Heidelberg were smarting from a crushing 6-0 defeat at the hands of Oakleigh themselves and were keen to bounce back from this humiliation. The Bergers were in trouble again as the Georgies capitalised on a set piece on the half hour after an even opening stanza. Goran Talevski scored his first goal for the club with a thunderous free kick from 25 yards. Minutes later Heidelberg player George Goutzioulis was shown the red card for throwing the ball in Cross keeper Martin John's face in a scuffle after Georgies defender Tsoumerkas and Heidelberg playmaker Sabljak both went off injured when they clashed in a fair tussle for the ball near the middle of the park.
Facing a 1-0 defecit and without the influential Goutzioulis all indicators then pointed towards a Sunshine victory. As is so often the case though, the 10 man Heidelberg rallied and took advantage of a complacent George Cross lapse in concentration as Andy Vlahos found space on the left hand side, which was a constant weakness in the George Cross set up and equalised on the 42 minute mark with a quality pinpoint strike from distance that gave Martin John no chance.
Shortly after, Vasko Trpcevski skied a half volley from pointblank range over the cross bar which would have restored the Georgies lead.
The Vlahos goal naturally lifted the home team going into the half time break, but with a whole 45 minutes to go, the visiting Georgies were confident of overcoming a depleted Heidelberg.
This was not the case in the second half as the Warriors came out full of purpose and took the game to the Cross as if they had 11 men. The home team took the initiative after some sloppy defending from a corner as Petrovic coasted into the six yard box to header the Bergers into the lead in the 67th minute.
The remaining 20 or so minutes of the match saw some desperate defending from Heidelberg and numerous attacks by the Georgies, but without the finishing touch. Despite dominating possession at the back and in midfield, the Cross was inneffective in the final third and could not break down a disciplined Heidelberg defence in the second half, with only a header deep in the half from Opazo thundering against the cross bar and a glancing Markovski header which just went wide the only real chances.
The game ground down to 90 minutes plus 4 minutes of stoppage and ended in an untimely defeat to the Cross. The defeat places the club back in the bottom four, with the next fixture at home against Fawkner now looming as a season defining 6 pointer
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