Melbourne City’s Mathew Leckie told Network 10 about the simple instruction he was given by teammate Valon Berisha which led to the opener in their 1-1 first leg Semi Final draw with Melbourne City.
Sometimes the most simple instruction can be the most effective.
In Melbourne City’s first leg Semi Final clash with Sydney FC, a straightforward nudge from attacking midfielder Valon Berisha to Mathew Leckie turned to gold.
After Jordan Bos won a free-kick on the edge of the City area, Berisha went over to take the resulting set-piece and as he headed over, the midfielder gave Leckie a quick heads up.
“When we won the foul as me and Valon passed each other, he said go near post, I’m just going to smash it,” Leckie told Network 10 post-game.
“In the end it ended up working out perfectly.”
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Leckie did exactly what the Kosovan international ordered, as the Socceroos attacker ran to the near post and got on the end of Berisha’s free-kick to open the scoring with a bullet header past national team teammate Andrew Redmayne.
Unfortunately for Leckie, his opener was cancelled out by an Adam Le Fondre second-half penalty, with the Englishman’s goal ensuring the tie would be level heading into the second leg at AAMI Park next Friday.
“I love getting into the box for crosses and, and trying to score headers. I believe I can be very dangerous,” he said.
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“Happy to score, obviously, it would have been nice to be the only goal of the game, but… I think overall the draw was probably fair.”
Friday night’s contest was Leckie’s first start since February, having made two substitute appearances since returning from injury in Round 25, along with his first finals goal since February 2011 when he was still playing for Adelaide United.
