by Greg Blake
Anthony Lesiotis is a dead-set ripper. And on Friday night his next level second half was a blue-riband belter. Lesiotis lifted Heidelberg United Alexander to a barnstorming 4-1 win over Green Gully Ajax at Olympic Village. The result jettisoned the Warriors into second spot on the NPL table.
The game deadlocked at 1-1 into the second half, Lesiotis variously became the cavalry charge over the horizon, the fall guy, the provider and the executioner as the Warriors raced to a forth consecutive league win for the first time in six years.
Sabit Ngor exploded into the game like a firecracker in a letterbox after half time as well. He dropped a niggling Gully opponent on his backside to set the tone and less than five minutes later he put the Warriors ahead for the second time. Max Bisetto’s angled ball left hit Lesitotis in stride, who, in turn, looped it for Ngor to finish off on the far post.
Asahi Yokokawa was flattened and Fletcher Fulton also got hammered in bruising clashes, but Lesiotis avenged any such slights – with interest – on the hour, as he delivered a lethal left-foot cruise missile, on target from around 25 metres out.
That goal made it 3-1 but didn’t quite kill gutsy Gully off, thus Lesiotis returned to make certain the kill by drawing a 79th minute penalty, ultimately converted by just-off-the-bench Peter Klaassen.
The ten opening minutes of Friday night fizzed like champagne, with Jamal Ali and then Kasper Hallam each scoring for Heidelberg and Green Gully, respectively, before the pair combined for an enthralling individual duel.
Ali struck just three minutes in. Yokokawa earned and fired in a blistering free kick, Liam Driscoll parried and Ali pounced to make it 1-0. I keep hearing how lucky Ali was to be in the right place at the right time. Well, he’s been awful lucky an awful lot lately.
Hallam equalised with a near mirror-image goal within five minutes, pouncing on a Yaren Sozar parry before the two sides locked down for a decent struggle, at least for a time. Back-in-form Gully’s early attempt at physical intimidation was sloppy and obvious. Heidelberg was all about control and composure – exemplified best by skipper Ben Collins and big Ryan Lethlean – and a productive aggression delivered in unpredictably explosive assaults on Liam Driscoll’s goal.
Yokokawa’s bold running at a Green Gully defence stacked with bodies clearly far bigger and more powerful predictably left him on his arse more often than not. Max Bisetto’s power sprints, Ali’s will-o’-the-wisp cameos and Mo Aidara’s ambitious swivels and twists all suggesting plenty, but Gully played it like a heavyweight, lurching into a series of jabs late in the half, which almost caught the Warriors out.
But just as Yokokawa did a few weeks back and Ali more recently, this was Lesiotis’ day for donning the cape and doing the superhero stuff when it was most needed.
Alexander’s 4-1 win set a new club best of 23 league games in the NPL era (ie. no cup or finals) without defeat at Catalina Street, dating back to April 2023. And the winds of hope are gaining momentum through Olympic Village after this fourth straight win, the best win streak since the legendary 2019 team won its last five games of the season to clinch an unlikely third consecutive premiership.
Daring to hope is what fans do best, but April’s run of massive games at South Melbourne and Oakleigh, a cup tie at St Albans and a home blockbuster against Avondale will give us a much better guide as to whether this 2025 team is exactly the team we all hope it is.
