In the end, there was simply no more magic for Heidelberg United Alexander to call upon. After a history-making run to the final of the Australia Cup, John Anastasiadis’s semi-professional outfit fell in a 3-1 extra-time defeat to the Newcastle Jets on Saturday evening, ending their hopes of becoming the first side from outside the A-League Men to lift the trophy and dashing their dreams of playing in next year’s Asian Champions League 2.
That honour will instead go to the Novocastrians, who dragged themselves back up off the canvas after falling behind to Ryan Lethlean’s eighth-minute opener to equalise through Max Burgess in the 21st minute. Over 70 minutes later, they forced themselves in front through Oscar Fryer in the 96th, the substitute cutting inside from the right and curling an unsaveable effort inside the far post before sealing the result in the 115th through a super turn and finish from Ben Gibson. Between the two extra time goals, both sides had a player sent off, first Kosta Grozos for the Jets, then Heidelberg’s Johnny Apostolopoulos.
While it wasn’t the neutrals’ preferred outcome, the scenes at full time, with the despair of the Heidelberg-dominated 10,000 supporters in attendance at Lakeside Stadium juxtaposed against the rapturous scenes from the visitors, spoke to what lifting the trophy meant to the Jets.
View image in fullscreen Oscar Fryer heads for the corner after giving Newcastle the lead in extra time. Photograph: James Ross/AAP
Indeed, in pretty much any other year, this triumph would be considered something of a fairytale itself. The side from the Hunter have played finals football just once in the past 15 years and, while their bitter F3 Derby rivals Central Coast were winning trophies, spent much of their past years in a state of existential peril and propped up by the financial support of four fellow A-League sides. Saturday ended a 17-year trophy drought in their first-ever Australia Cup final, earning themselves a first chance to play in Asia themselves and stoking dreams of a turnaround and a bright future under their new ownership and a new coach in Mark Milligan.
“For me, it’s for the fans,” said Milligan. “They’ve waited a long time for silverware, waited a long time to be in finals. It’s never easy. It’s extremely difficult to make finals. There’s players, fantastic players, that go through their careers without making a final.
“We’ve spoken a lot since I’ve come in that we want the support of the fans, but we have to show [them] who we are. We have to show every day who we are, show every game who we are and what we’re becoming. It’s up to us to repay them, and this is just the start of that.”
Romance and sense of occasion aside, an A-League Men side winning out over National Premier League opposition, as had also been the case when Macarthur defeated Sydney United in 2022, was always the most likely outcome.
The Jets controlled large sections of the game, with Burgess, looking reborn after his exit from Sydney, pulling the strings in the midfield as he won the Mark Viduka medal as best afield. With their 2025-26 campaign imminent, they were far further into their preseason than fellow professional outfits were when they fell to Heidelberg in the earlier rounds, and the mortgage brokers, tradies, and disability support workers who made up the host’s ranks had to go to extra time in what was their 40th game of the year.
Yet while the Jets did have the best of the contest after riding a emotion-charged Heidelberg start and forced Yaren Sözer into a string of impressive saves, it speaks to the level that Anastasiadis has brought this side, as well as the shrinking gap between Australia’s closed top flight and the tiers below more generally, that this was a highly entertaining game and could easily have gone the other way. Not only did the contest go to extra time, but Alexander were a constant threat on the counter, ensuring that they created just as many chances to grab a decisive goal during regular time as the Jets.
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View image in fullscreen Heidelberg United players commiserate with fans. Photograph: James Ross/AAP
For both sides, however, the final moment let them down. At times, it appeared as though the sense of occasion and what was riding on the result played a key role in forcing the game to extra time. Asahi Yokokawa, for instance, will be haunted by the moment he broke through one-on-one with James Delianov in the 74th minute, only to opt to chip the keeper and send his effort wide. On any other evening, the Japanese attacker almost certainly attempts to bend his attempt around an onrushing custodian.
“We probably ran out of a bit of legs and they put on some fresh youngsters,” said Anastasiadis. “And you know how youngsters are, they just run all day. So it’s a credit to them. Congratulations to Newcastle. It was a good game of football. It had everything. A fantastic crowd, a fantastic spectacle.
“I’m proud of my boys … they fought like lions today and unfortunately we just fell a bit short.”
Inevitably, amid their pride at defying the odds to reach this stage, missed chances, penalty shouts, and every other kind of what-if will haunt Heidelberg. On another night, this could have been their moment. Saturday, however, was a night for the Jets to dream.
[SRC] https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/oct/04/newcastles-ben-gibson-kills-off-heidelberg-uniteds-australia-cup-dream
