By Luke Sheehan
SUNSHINE George Cross defeated Heidelberg United 3-2 in a Sunday night Victorian Premier League thriller at Knights Stadium.
In a spirited performance from George Cross, the home side opened its 2010 Victorian Premier League campaign in style.
The Georgies led 2-0 after 28 minutes, but a rare goalkeeping error from Martin John saw a goalmouth scramble produce Heidelberg’s first goal through Osagie Ederaro, and put the game back in the balance at half-time.
Sunshine then regained its two-goal buffer on 75 minutes, but an own goal from a Heidelberg corner in the 89th minute ensured some frantic moments for the George Cross defence in the dying minutes.
But the story of the match was the first-half sending off of Heidelberg’s Joe Kozic for an elbow on George Cross’s Barry Devlin in the 24th minute.
The foul was paid to United, but as the whistle blew, the Heidelberg player lashed out towards the culprit, who fell to the ground.
The referee had no hesitation in pulling out the card immediately, much to the shock of the Heidelberg players and coach George Katsakis. George Cross coach Andy O’Dell said he did not see the incident.
“To be honest with you, I turned around and next thing I know there’s a red card. I got told he did take a swing, so if there’s intent he’s got to go, but I didn’t see it,” he said.
O’Dell was happy with the result, but was not getting carried away with the Georgies’ victory.
“Yeah, good win, a bit of relief,” he said. “One win doesn’t make a season, it’s good to get a good start but we’ve got a long way to go, not get carried away.
“I’ll enjoy my night, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
Katsakis praised the George Cross outfit, but also took positives out of the loss for United.
“A lot of credit has got to go to George Cross. Their intensity, endeavour and their will to win was very good, and to say that at the least we’ve come away from home and scored two goals is always positive.”
Katsakis said the controversial decision changed the game.
“To go down 10 men so early in the game for something so minor, if there was a blatant elbow there, with maybe a bit of blood and something that we could retrospect to that, but I felt there was nothing in it,” Katsakis said.
“The boy reckons he did nothing wrong. Watching two other Premier League games today and yesterday, there were a lot worse than that, and they were only cautioned.
“First things first, I think the federation needs to get that right, to be honest. I’m only speaking my mind, and I know people aren’t going to like it, but I’m not one to cry over a result when it’s fairly won or lost, but today I felt we were hard done by.”
This week, Sunshine takes on reigning premiers Altona Magic at Knights Stadium, kicking off at 7pm.
