Have the Great Nomads found their home?

The big news of the week was the announcement of an in-principle agreement between Marrickville City Council and Sydney Olympic to re-develop parts of the Tempe Recreation Reserve on the southern end of Marrickville Council limits.

Obviously this is great news, but there is a long way to go and a lot of hard work to get through to get this over the line, hopefully the current board will be given every chance to get it done, as it is long overdue, and how ironic it would be, that it took a State League trapped Sydney Olympic to get it done.

It is the culmination of a long journey which began at Wentworth Park in Glebe in 1957. Since then, thousands of supporters have followed the team around Sydney, to the Sydney Sports Ground, Erskineville Oval, Pratten Park, St. George Stadium, Leichhardt Oval, SFS, Belmore Sports Ground, Shark Park, Kogarah Oval, and I have probably also missed a couple of venues along the way. We have also had a couple of cracks at a social club, the last of which was closed down 15 years ago at Hurlstone Park.

The future of the club would be secured if this project can be seen out through to its conclusion. I hope every Sydney Olympic Supporter, whether you still regularly attend matches today, did so 10 years, did so 20 years ago, or only ever attended a single match, sends their best wishes and hopes for a positive outcome in this endeavour.

Onto the playing side of things, all this Tempe stuff is connected to the lack of heavy investment in the First Grade Squad for 2016, the board look to be cutting back in a bid to fund the Tempe project. Which could be dangerous in terms of ladder position for next season. There is a bit of work to do in this regard as I believe we are short 2-3 quality players for next season.

2016 will also see us face South Melbourne for only the second time since 2004 and the first time since 2011, in a pre-season match for the “Bank of Sydney Cup”, Bank of Sydney happens to sponsor both clubs. The match is slated for Friday Night, February 5^th, 7:30pm at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah. Before that we also have a pre-season hit-out penciled in against Parramatta Melita on the Sunday Afternoon, January 31^st, 3:00pm at Melita Stadium, South Granville.

The final piece of news is the announcement that Howard Fondyke has been given the Captaincy for 2016. Fondyke missed the majority of 2015 with a season-ending injury suffered in the 2-2 draw away to A.P.I.A Leichhardt in Round 4 last season, which was a major blow to our season, best of luck to him we wish him all the best.

This will probably be the last blog until next year so Merry Christmas to everyone and have a safe and Happy New Year.

Team of the Decade

As difficult as it is to believe, it’s been 10 years of being back in the NSW State League, and as depressing as that is for most, I thought it be a good idea to look back some of the players who have distinguished themselves for the club over this 10 year period, and put them into a “Team of the Decade.”

During this period, season’s; 2004/05, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 have been the season’s that have lived up to what you would call usual ”club standards”, but players I have selected are not only from those season’s, and I’m sure many out there would have their own thoughts and ideas on who they would select for such a team.

Where to start? I guess I’ll start right at the beginning. Guys like: Zenon Caravella, Damon Collina, Tarek Elrich, Greg Owens, Shane Lyons, Peter McPherson, Matt Gordon, the Musumeci brothers and even the likes of Troy Halpin and Paul Kohler who were still at the club for the early part of that first season.

As we go through the seasons, we’ve had people like; Shannon Cole, Dimitri Petratos, Iain Ramsay, Matthew Jurman and of course players synonymous with the club Anthony Doumanis, Peter Zorbas and who can forget Nick Carle’s short stint back with us in 2007. Michael Cindric, Emanuel Zunino, Paul Wither, Matthew Mayora, Tolgay Ozbey, also performed well for the club.

Younger players came through like; Jerry Kalouris, Troy Danaskos, Emmanuel Giannaros, Phil Makrys, the Triantis brothers, William Angel, Mitch Stamatellis, guys like Ibrahim Haydar, Brett Studman, Richard Luksic, David Gullo came and won honours with us and although his stay was brief Alex Smith was pivotal in that success.

Onto recent times players like Brayden Sorge, Brendan Hooper, James Demetriou, Amaury Gauthier, Zak Elrich, Jason Madonis and Yianni Spyrakis have come through complementing the likes of Petar Markovic, the Gaitatzis brothers and the 2 boys from Japan, Taiga and Go. Obviously I can’t name everybody and certainly I would have missed a few. Anyway after 10 years this is the side I have gone for:

Using 4-2-3-1:

Goalkeeper - we’ve had a couple of good ones, but it’s a no contest and Henderson has to be in goals.
Defenders - Sorge is the best RB we’ve had since Lindsay Wilson, I’ve given Studman and Cindric the nod as the CB’s and Danaskos is the LB.
Midfielders - I have Zorbas and Doumanis as the 2 CM’s, one to sit back and the other one to go forward and help in attack. The attacking 3 is made of William Angel and Go Shirai on the wings, the behind the striker / no.10 role / 2nd striker role was a tough one and there were plenty to choose from but I went for Alex Smith.
Striker - Nobody has scored more goals for the club post NSL than Matthew Mayora and he scored a lot of his goals in what turned out to be poor sides, so he gets a start.

Grant Lee has done exceptionally well in his 2.5 years and took the club out of a dark place and lifted it back near the top. Milan Blagojevic did likewise in his 1 season as coach with the club. But Peter Tsekenis has to be the coach.



-----------------------------Henderson

Sorge----------Studman----------Cindric-----------Danaskos

-----------------------Zorbas---------Doumanis

Go----------------------------Smith-----------------------Angel

------------------------------Mayora

Open For Speculation

Allow me to begin by stating that this week’s write-up is not a “club bashing” piece. I personally have respect for everyone who has ever put their hands in their own pockets to contribute to the on-going existence of this Great Club. Mistakes have been made along the way during nearly 60 years, but I will not waste everybody’s time trying to go through them all. Added to that, obviously the people in charge of the club right now, today, are not to blame for those past issues, and from what I understand they are trying hard to rectify those issues.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ll get on with it.

Look we all hate South Melbourne, but if there’s one thing they do well, it’s the way they run their media department. It is slick, professional and second to none for any 2^nd tier level football club, and to be honest, better than most A-league Franchises, If you compare that to Sydney Olympic currently, we’re a long way off that. Currently there seems to be a lot of nonsense being published, with most of it having nothing to do with the club.

We’re nearly half-way through November, and there has been very little from the club in the way of announcements; signings, departures, pre-season plans, answers to alleged board ructions, or any other news concerning the club. Included in this is the lack of any information forthcoming regarding the current situation surrounding Belmore, the situation regarding Tempe Reserve, not to mention the silence over the long overdue club AGM.

Supporters are reduced to having to hear bits and pieces 3^rd and 4^th hand, or having to read the blind stabs in the dark from people who attempt to write in the Greek newspapers. The problem is nobody knows exactly what’s going on. This is causing some anxiety among the supporters and is causing unrest. Nobody actually knows what is happening and as a result, supporters then go on wild goose chases, resort to conspiracy theories or have to listen to the gibberish from opposition supporters.

We saw last year a great club like Marconi reduced to a laughing stock, bordering on being irrelevant as a footballing entity, and have subsequently been relegated from the NSW Premier League (or NPL1 if you prefer). Now I’m not saying we will end up like Marconi, but it’s a slippery slope and it’s high time for some answers from the people running the club, starting with holding an AGM – ASAP.

For all anyone knows things could be all hunky-dory, but as stated, the lack of any information has many supporters on edge. The people running the club would be wise to rectify the situation.

'Tis the season, the silly season

This off-season is proving to be one of the quietest on record, it is proving very difficult to find out anything about any club, not to mention our club - Sydney Olympic - where news or any updates have been very few and far between. To the supporters I've spoken to, there is a lot of frustration out there at the lack of any information regarding a variety of different issues.

Nevertheless, I will get stuck in to what I know about the squad for 2016:
We have signed Chris Triantis. Paul Henderson, William Angel, Niko Tsattalios, Howard Fondyke and Brayden Sorge have by all reports re-signed for 2016. On Harris Gaitatzis and Dimitri Hatzimouratis, I am receiving mixed messages, they are either both 100% gone - or - they both have offers on the table from Sydney Olympic, but also have offers from elsewhere and are still weighing up their options.

Yianni Fragogiannis was allegedly keen to join the club, but have since learned the club was used as a stage for some type of bidding war, by which the club refused to get into, for which I commend them for. Good luck to the Edensor Park club if they wish to spend the money they are, but some of the figures being bandied about defies sanity for this level of football. Peter Triantis is another player who showed interest in a return, the club was reciprocal in this interest. But I am hearing a disgruntled former assistant coach acting as a type of "father figure" entered the discussion and quashed any chance of a return.

Refer to my previous blog for the other signings we have made so far for 2016.

In the news of late has been the proposed site at Tempe, and it being some type of future base and permanent home for the cub, something all Sydney Olympic Supporters have been waiting for since 1957. Throughout the years there has been many close calls and many botched deals in this regard, meaning the status of the club has always been at the mercy of other groups. I hope and pray this is for real this time. From my limited knowledge about the whole process it will go to Marrickville Council for a vote to see if it is approved, and we all hope it is.

Finally the lack of an AGM since late 2013 (if my memory serves me correctly) has been a source of consternation among several supporters who I have spoken to.recently. I think a few people need to re-discover what the ''A'' stands for in AGM.

Leave a comment if you agree or disagree or to voice your opinion on anything, until next time.

Fuck the off-season

It has been exactly 1 month since our season finished, losing to Hume City on the outskirts of Melbourne in the round of 16 of the FFA Cup. To make matters worse, the NSWPL off-season is a particularly long one. The start of the next season seems so far away.

Even though I'm keeping my ear pretty close to the ground, it is always fairly difficult to find out about signings, re-signings, departures or any other news concerning the club at this point of the year, but I've done my best and thanks to some fine detective work, I've managed to find out a few things.

This is not so much a scoop as it was reported several times around the traps. Dependable Left-Back and one of the first names on the Sydney Olympic team sheet, Troy Danaskos, has departed the club, signing a contract with a-league franchise Wellington Phoenix for the up-coming a-league season. Troy will leave a big hole which will be difficult to fill, it is disappointing to lose a player of Troy's calibre. But it is what it is and I certainly wish him the best of luck.

We have also signed a group of young players from various other NSWPL clubs;
- Mark Cindric from Sydney United
- Anthony Tomelic from Sydney United
- James Combes from Sutherland
- Jake de Marigny from Marconi
- Michael Loupis from Rockdale
- Cohan Morris
- Adrian Vranic
- Jack Green
- Oliver Green
- James Andrew has gone to Sutherland
- Brendan Hooper has gone to APIA
- Taiga Soeda, Go Shirai and Scott Balderson also won't be back next season by the looks of it.

Some of the players signed will be destined for 1st Grade others for the 20's. As for the main 1st Grade squad, more may move on. Contracts have been offered to others so we will have to wait and see what transpires there.

As the new year approaches, there will be more significant news to come out of the club and we will all obviously find out a bit more of what's going on. I will endeavour to find out more news and anything else of interest and share it on this blog.

Sydney Olympic - 2015 Season Review

Round 1 (W) - OLYMPIC 3-0 South Coast Wolves
Round 2 (W) - Parramatta FC 0-4 OLYMPIC
Round 3 (D) - OLYMPIC 2-2 Bonnyrigg White Eagles
Round 4 (D) - A.P.I.A Leichhardt 2-2 OLYMPIC
Round 5 (W) - OLYMPIC 1-0 Rockdale Suns
Round 6 (W) - Manly United 0-2 OLYMPIC
Round 7 (W) - OLYMPIC 5-1 Marconi Stallions
Round 8 (W) - Blacktown Spartans 3-4 OLYMPIC
Round 9 (L) - Blacktown City 4-2 OLYMPIC
Round 10 (W) - OLYMPIC 2-1 Sutherland Sharks
Round 11 (L) - Sydney United 3-0 OLYMPIC
Round 12 (D) - South Coast Wolves 1-1 OLYMPIC
Round 13 (L) - OLYMPIC 0-1 Parramatta FC
Round 14 (L) - Bonnyrigg White Eagles 3-1 OLYMPIC
Round 15 (W) - OLYMPIC 2-1 A.P.I.A Leichhardt
Round 16 (L) - Rockdale Suns 2-1 OLYMPIC
Round 17 (L) - OLYMPIC 1-5 Manly United
Round 18 (W) - Marconi Stallions 0-2 OLYMPIC
Round 19 (W) - OLYMPIC 3-2 Blacktown Spartans
Round 20 (W) - OLYMPIC 4-0 Blacktown City
Round 21 (W) - Sutherland Sharks 0-2 OLYMPIC
Round 22 (W) - OLYMPIC 1-0 Sydney United
Finals Week 1 (W) - OLYMPIC 2-0 South Coast Wolves
Finals Week 2 (L) - A.P.I.A. Leichhardt 1-0 OLYMPIC

Waratah Cup Qualifier (W) - OLYMPIC 1-0 Balmain Tigers
Waratah Cup Semi-Final (L) - OLYMPIC 1-2 Blacktown City

FFA Cup 4^th Preliminary Round (W) - OLYMPIC 6-1 Waverley Old Boys
FFA Cup 5^th Preliminary Round (W) - OLYMPIC 3-0 Mounties Wanderers
FFA Cup 6^th Preliminary Round (W) - Manly United 1-2 OLYMPIC
FFA Cup 7^th Preliminary Round (W) - OLYMPIC 3-0 South Coast Wolves
FFA Cup Round of 32 (W) - Gungahlin United 0-1 OLYMPIC
FFA Cup Round of 16 (L) - Hume City 3-1 OLYMPIC

Very similar to last season, 4^th in the League, Semi-Finals of the Waratah Cup, and making it to the Round of 16 of the FFA Cup. Last year we also made it to the NSW NPL Grand Final. That’s maybe why this season feels like such a disappointment. We should have learnt from last season, where lack of quality squad depth hurt us, we didn’t learn and committed the same mistakes again. In saying all that, I believe things could have and should of been different. The loss of Howard Fondyke to a season-ending injury in Round 4 profoundly hurt the squad’s balance, and limited our depth options for the rest of the season, plus the much hyped signing and return to the Club of Tolgay Ozbey for the remaining 3 months of the season backfired. The positivity and optimism that spread through the supporters was short-lived, as he picked up an injury during our Round 17 loss to Manly United, 5 minutes into his 1^st match back for us. He didn’t play again until our last match of the season, the 3-1 loss to Hume City in the FFA Cup Round of 16 a few days ago.

Niko Tsattalios and Troy Danaskos were also injured at different times during the season. So we did have our fair share of bad luck with injuries, injuries to important players at that. As a result the load had to be carried by the likes of Brayden Sorge, Harris Gaitatzis, Go Shirai, Taiga Soeda, Will Angel, Yianni Spyrakis, Dimi Hatzimouratis who virtually played every game. We played 32 games this season, excluding the Pre-Season Cup. Last season was a similar story, that’s why there is more of a feeling of disappointment about this season. We are Sydney Olympic, and we should be able to cover for the inevitable fatigue and injuries to players, we should always have quality depth in our squad. We were caught short for the 2^nd season in a row.

This brings me to the next talking point. The Club Championship, which is a combined points Championship of all results from the 18’s, 20’s and 1^st Grade. We finished 2^nd this season, a great effort, meaning we have some very good players coming through the ranks. Some have already had a taste of First Grade over the past 2 seasons, like Jason Madonis and James Andrew. Other notable performers have been mid-season recruit Adrian Vranic who has been on fire lately, young Goalkeeper John Dimitrakas, the brothers Jack and Oliver Green, Michael Trajkovski, Marcus Duncan and a few others. Hopefully they are ready to and can contribute to First Grade next season.

We are there or there abouts and not far off winning trophies, which at the end of the day is what it’s all about. Sydney Olympic by default will always develop young talent and produce players. Hopefully the Board and the Coaching staff are committed and have already started planning for next season. Inevtably, players will leave which will need to be replaced. A couple of top quality signings on top of that could be all that is needed for us to make the next step.

It has been a big year with the supporters travelling all over Sydney, to Wollongong, Canberra and Melbourne to follow the team, keep supporting this Great Club. Finally to all the supporters feel free to leave a comment if you agree or even if you think I’m talking absolute shit, I would like to get the thoughts of the supporters. Hopefully a big 2016 season is on the cards.

Our 20’s are 1 win away from a Grand Final and will take on the Marconi Stallions in the Preliminary Final at Gabbie Stadium in Seven Hills this Sunday at 1pm. It is the curtain-raiser to the First Grade Preliminary Final between Blacktown City and A.P.I.A. Leichhardt.

Heart-Break - A.P.I.A. Leichhardt 1-0 Sydney Olympic

For a while there, i was really wondering whether to actually write a blog about last night's match. Very rarely do I leave a ground after a defeat as upset and as frustrated as I was last night. Triumph and Defeat are part and parcel of sport and of supporting a team, and the triumphs will always be too few, compared to the defeats. But even still, how that ball stayed out of the .A.P.I.A. net will always be a mystery to me and be something that I will never fully understand. As it is we have been knocked out of the Finals and season 2015 is now over. Another opportunity missed for the Club.

What makes the defeat worse is how well we have been playing recently and the quiet confidence that the supporters had. Positive that we would get passed A.P.I.A. and make it to next weekend. The 1st half of the match did not live up to any great heights. Neither side dominated the other as it turned into a real slog with crunching tackles flying in from both sides. Chances were proving hard to come by for both sides and it didn't look likely that there would be goal before half-time. There were a series of half chances but nobody could find the opening goal. Right on the stroke of half-time though,  A.P.I.A. launched an attack, the ball sat up for one of their players, who's scuffed shot hit the back of one of the Olympic defenders, with the ball looping over the despairing Paul Henderson to send A.P.I.A. to the break 1-0 up.

If in the 1st half we looked a little dis-jointed, in the 2nd half it was a completely different story. We had our foot on A.P.I.A's throat. We had chance after chance. Brendan Hooper hit the post from his shot, Dimitri Hatzimouratis had his shot saved onto the post, we had another shot that hit the wood-work, Go Shirai had his shot remarkably cleared off the line by an A.P.I.A. defender. It might have been Yianni Spyrakis who hit a fantastic lob, which was also desperately cleared off the line by an A.P.I.A. defender. Wave after wave of attacks brought out some more ridiculous saves this time from the A.P.I.A. Goalkeeper, the ball would just not go in. It was destined to not be our night, we just could not, no matter what we did, find the back of the net. We kept pushing and pushing to find the equaliser, but it never came. We could have kept on playing for another 5 hours it was just never going to go in. It was just one of those nights. As the full-time whistle blew, the frustration, disappointment and anger was clear to see on the many faces of the Olympic supporters who ventured out to Lambert Park last night. Another year has passed, another missed opportunity for the Club. Everybody was justifiably gutted, a terrible way to go out.

As is customary in this league and with the nature of the NSWPL, we will almost definitely lose some players for next year. Hopefully the players that remain along with the coaching staff stay the course. Hopefully everybody does their homework and can pin-point which exact players we need and can bring in that can help us next season. Hopefully, with the addition of these players we can keep working towards challenging again next season. There are also some fantastic young boys in the 20's who are well and truly capable of stepping up to First Grade next season as well.

Of course we are still in the FFA Cup. Our round of 16 match takes place in Melbourne on Tuesday night against Hume City at ABD Stadium in Broadmeadows, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, kicking off at 7.30pm.

Finals Fever - Sydney Olympic 2-0 South Coast Wolves

After 22 rounds of the home and away season, we finished in 4th spot. We are now effectively in a new competition. First past the post is a great achievement, but in Australia, the Finals Series and winning the Grand Final rules the roost. So with that, we began our Finals Series campaign this afternoon against the team who had finished the regular season in 5th spot, the South Coast Wolves, in a sudden death Elimination Final.

A gloomy Sydney day welcomed the supporters and players onto Lambert Park for the contest. We started the match well, immediately gaining a foot-hold in the contest and dominating the match from the outset. We were looking dangerous all over the park as we took the game to the Wolves. This was highlighted by the fact we created chance after chance inside the first 20 minutes of the contest. The supporters who made it out to Leichhardt were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to capitalise on our domination, they didn't have to wait long as Dimi Hatzimouratis finished off some nice work from Michael Gaitatzis down the flank to put the ball away and send us 1-0 up and give us a well deserved lead. We had a couple more chances before half-time to extend our lead but it was not to be, and we went to the break leading 1-0.

As expected, the beginning of the 2nd half saw the Wolves come out looking to find an equaliser to get back into the contest. The 2nd half see-sawed back and forth as Wolves were pushing for their goal and we were in turn hitting them on the counter-attack, which made it a very entertaining game to watch. Although the Wolves were getting into the match I don't recall them having more than 1 clear cut opportunity to score during the 2nd half. This was contrary to ourselves who continued to create chances, but just unable to find the killer 2nd goal. 25 minutes into the 2nd half, Scott Balderson and Michael Gaitatzis were replaced by the returning Niko Tsattalios and Go Shirai respectively. Wolves were still looking for the equalising goal, a goal would come but it would be Olympic's goal, a great ball from Taiga Soeda found Harris Gaitatzis in space, who dribbled it into the box and smashed his shot passed the Wolves Goalkeeper to send the Olympic supporters into delirium. The 2nd goal kicked the stuffing out of the Wolves players who had no more left to give. 10 or so minutes later the full-time whistle was blown and we had got the job done courtesy of a 2-0 win.

Wolves were coming off the back of several weeks of effectively Finals Football and it looked like they had run their race by the time they got to the Finals, but it was a good effort from them given where they were during the mid-way part of the season to even make the top 5. For us we look to be in good form and playing some good football. Hopefully the boys can keep it going for 3 more weeks.

In today's other Finals match, APIA Leichhardt lost 3-1 at home to the Bonnyrigg White Eagles. Which means we will be in another Elimination Final next week at Lambert Park to face APIA Leichhardt.

Deserved Victory - Sydney Olympic 1-0 Sydney United

The final regular season round of the season is here. Going into this final round, there were still a few unanswered questions regarding where we would finish and who we could be potentially facing in Week 1 of the Finals. It's all been run and won now. I'll expand on this further, a bit later.

On to the game. The boys would have been eager to erase the 3-0 loss earlier in the season at Edensor Park. The match started with tackles flying in from both sets of players. It was surprising that within the first 10 minutes we already had 3 players with Yellow Cards whilst the opposition had none for some crude challenges of their own. The opposition had a few chances via set pieces but the Olympic defense dealt with them pretty easy all day. We also managed to carve out some chances in the 1st half but could not manage to find the back of the net. United's Goalkeeper was called into action to help keep the score at 0-0. Will Angel picked up an injury halfway through the 1st half and was replaced by Harris Gaitatzis. Not sure what the injury was, hopefully it was not too serious and Will is ready for next week. Not much else of note happened and we went to the break dead-locked at 0-0.

In the 2nd half we stepped it up a bit and began to control the match. We created further chances early on in the 2nd half and 10 or so minutes in we managed to open the scoring. We had a few shots saved in quick succession, with Harris Gaitatzis there to bury the rebound and put us 1-0 up. As the match progressed we really should have put the game to bed as we had several further chances but we were unable to capitalise and thus unable to kill the game off. With the score at 1-0 the opposition were always in the match and had a few half chances of their own to grab an equaliser. But our defense held firm and Hendo at the back was safe between the sticks. The score remained 1-0 at the full-time whistle, another deserved 3 points.

Around the grounds; Bonnyrigg put Rockdale to the sword smashing them 4-0, APIA played out an entertaining 4-4 draw with Blacktown Spartans, South Coast Wolves beat a hapless Marconi 2-0 consigning that club to almost certain relegation, Parramatta Melita ensured their safety by beating Manly 2-1 in Manly and Blacktown City beat Sutherland 4-1 to clinch the Minor Premiership.

As a result of the final round results, disappointingly we weren't able to crack it for a top 3 finish and secure the double chance in the Finals. As a result of finishing 4th we take on a rampant South Coast Wolves who finished 5th in an Elimination Final next weekend. APIA (2nd) play Bonnyrigg (3rd) in the Qualifying Final, with Blacktown City having a week off.

Penultimate Round - Sutherland Sharks 0-2 Sydney Olympic

After Tuesday night's trip to the A.C.T. the boys had to back up on Saturday night to take on an always difficult Sutherland on their own pitch. The Sharks lost their coach and a few important players at the end of last year, so it has not been a successful year for them. They have given a chance to and blooded a few youngsters this season and were still a slim chance to make the Finals coming into last night's fixture, but all in all they really didn't have too much to play for last night. A carefree and pressure-free mindset, or a not-caring mindset, could produce several different outcomes.

The match started with both sides getting out quick from the blocks in a hotly contested opening 20 minutes. Sutherland carved out some opportunities for themselves, but we solidly held them out. Overall we were the better side and dictated proceedings, creating several chances but we unfortunately couldn't find the back of the net in the opening exchanges. We kept our foot on the accelerator in a bid to open the scoring, and we would through Dimi Hatzimouratis who pounced on a parried shot from Scott Balderson to put the ball away and give us a 1-0 lead 5 minutes before the break. Not much else happened for the next 5 minutes and we went to the half-time break leading 1-0.

Sutherland gave it a real go in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half in bid to find an equaliser. They had a couple of chances, fortunately for us they were not able to find the back of the net. From this point on we once again took control of proceedings. We dominated the rest of the match causing havoc for the Sharks defense with good interplay and in the process creating a plethora of chances, only to be foiled by last ditch defending and good goalkeeping. With the score remaining at 1-0 all it would have took was for Sutherland to score to change the complexion of the match. A goal would come, but it was for the good guys, as in injury-time we were awarded a penalty. Harris Gaitatzis stepped up to put the spot-kick away and give us a well deserved 2-0 lead, and that's how the score would remain at full-time.

So it was another solid victory for the club. Very professional performance.

Given last night's other result (Bonnyrigg 0-3 A.P.I.A.) we are now 1 point behind Bonnyrigg for that all-important 3rd place finish, which gives you a double-chance in the Finals. So it will go right down to the wire. All energy should be directed towards this.

Our next match is our final regular season home game of the season, next Sunday at Belmore Sports Ground against Sydney United - kickoff 3pm.

FFA Cup - Gungahlin United 0-1 Sydney Olympic

I, along with a few others decided to make the trek down to the A.C.T. to watch our boys take on A.C.T. NPL club Gungahlin United in the round of 32 of the FFA Cup. After flooring it down the highway for 2 and a bit hours we arrived on the northern outskirts of the A.C.T. at a freezing Gungahlin. Arriving at the ground it was heartening to see so many Sydney Olympic scarves and jackets wrapped around the many supporters who made it down for the match. Add to that the many Canberra Olympic people at the match and there was plenty of support for the boys for this very important match.

The match started with both sides looking to attack, which was made difficult by the condition of the pitch, which from all reports also hosts League, Union and AFL matches during the season. The healthy crowd was treated to a pretty decent match all be it scrappy at times. Gungahlin managed to carve out a couple of chances and had one excellent chance to take the lead but the shot went wide. We were dangerous down the flanks creating a few openings through some nice crosses all of which didn't find their mark and we went to the break dead-locked at 0-0.

At half-time we went down to see what was on the menu at the Gungahlin canteen. The hosts and well done to them, were catering for their guests, so we grabbed some souvlakia and to be fair they weren't bad. If the weather wasn't cold enough at the beginning of the 2nd half it somehow got worse with the temperature further dropping and accompanied now by a wind watch was blowing across the ground, which made things worse.

Back to the game. At the start of the 2nd half we seemed to lift our intensity which was lacking in large parts during the 1st half. We were looking much more dominant, reducing Gungahlin to sporadic attacks. Again we were looking dangerous down the flanks via Will Angel and Troy Danaskos down the Left and Brayden Sorge and the recently brought-on Michael Gaitatzis down the Right who replaced Go Shirai. The introduction of Yianni Spyrakis for Ryan Keir also seemed to spark us. With around 15 minutes to go, we made our final substitution with Scott Balderson coming on for Harris Gaitatzis. We were dominating Gungahlin with good passing and getting at them down the flanks but could not produce the killer ball. 6 or 7 minutes from the end our goal would come through Michael Gaitatzis who dribbled into the box, cut onto his left foot and smashed his shot into the corner of the net, leaving the Gungahlin Goalkeeper with little chance.

To the relief of the supporters who made the journey down, we avoided extra-time and the lottery of penalties and further dropping temperatures, to get the job done within the 90 minutes. We are through to the round of 16 of the FFA Cup, we will await to see who we draw in the next round.

Our next match is against Sutherland Sharks at Seymour Shaw Park on Saturday night - kickoff 7.30pm.

Building momentum - Sydney Olympic 4-0 Blacktown City

It was an unusual kickoff time for a Sydney Olympic league game, Saturday 3pm. It was moved mainly to give the boys an extra day to recover before our all-important FFA Cup round of 32 match on Tuesday night against Gungahlin United down in the A.C.T. Blacktown City were coming off a Wednesday FFA Cup round of 32 match of their own and we were saving a few players for Tuesday night, those two factors were going to make this match intriguing and those gathered at Belmore were interested to see how the match would pan out.

It didn't take too long to find out what kind of match we were in for as we opened the scoring inside the opening 5 minutes via a Scott Balderson headed goal, we only had to wait another 10 or so minutes for our 2nd goal with Dimi Hatzimouratis finishing coolly to double our lead. 10 minutes before half-time Taiga Soeda joined the party getting our 3rd goal, and the Olympic supporters couldn't believe what they were seeing. This was not the end of the scoring though as Taiga grabbed a 2nd with a great freekick giving us a 4-0 lead. Moments later the referee blew for half-time and we went to the break with well deserved 4-0 lead.

The 2nd half began with both sides trying to continue the free-flowing play of the 1st half. As expected Blacktown City came out eager to improve on their dismal 1st half display, we also had a few chances to further extend our lead. But by mid-way through the 2nd half both sides were pretty much resigned to accepting the end result, giving our boys a chance to put our feet up and not exert ourselves as much, having in mind our very important match on Tuesday night, this was a great position to be in. To the joy of the Olympic supporters full-time came and we had banked another important 3 points and a great win to boot.

I don't like to use the word ''curse'' but we have had a bit of trouble with Blacktown City over the last few years, with wins against them proving hard to come by. Sure they were coming off a 3 day break, but i will take a win against them all the same. Our form and performances have certainly picked up after our mid-season slump. We are looking good heading into the business end of the season.

Our next match is the FFA Cup round of the 32 clash against Gungahlin United in the A.C.T. - kickoff 7.30pm.

The club has organised a bus for supporters to go down and watch the game, call (02) 9787-7890 to book your seat or head to the offices at Belmore Sports Ground. Or you can head down independently and get your tickets at the gate at the Gungahlin Enclosed Oval.

Balls of Steel - Sydney Olympic 3-2 Blacktown Spartans

Well what a game. The boys came back from being 2-0 down (undeservedly) to snatch the game out of the fire and win it 3-2.

I'm not one to blame referees if we lose, and they do have a tough job. But the referee was truly a disgrace, doing all within his power to try and drag the opposition over the line, it really was sickening to see. Which makes our incredible comeback all the more remarkable.

The 1st half began with us taking it to the opposition, we seemed to be on song right from the get go. We created a plethora of chances and really should have been 2 or 3 up in quick time. Therefore it was really disappointing to see us not convert any of our many many chances. Usually in these circumstances the opposition goes down the other end and with a sucker-punch, and against the run of play, opens the scoring. It was no different tonight, well there was a difference actually, it was a double sucker-punch. Disturbingly, despite our great play we were down 2-0 and looked like we would go to the break 2-0 down. But with the last kick of the half, Go Shirai popped up to score to breathe life into the contest and lifted everybody's spirits, we went to the half-time break 2-1 down.

The 2nd half began the same way as the 1st, we came out determined to get an equaliser and we had it early in the 2nd half via a Michael Gaitatzis finish. This signaled for us to go up another gear and to chase a winner.  With about 20 minutes remaining, goal-scorer Michael Gaitatzis was subbed off for Dimi Hatzimouratis. This move worked a treat, with 5 minutes remaining Hatzimouratis popped up to score the winner to send the Olympic faithful into dreamland. Shortly after the referee managed to blow his whistle correctly securing us an important 3 points.

No one had a bad game tonight. Will Angel and Troy Danaskos were brilliant down the left-hand side. Go and Taiga in the middle were great. Ryan Keir was solid and so was Jason Madonis who replaced him during the 2nd half. The Gaitatzis brothers Harris and Michael did well as did Dimi Hatzimouratis when he came on. Scott Balderson also played his role when he came on. The Defenders and the Goalkeeper were also solid.

Our next match is next Saturday at Belmore against Blacktown City - Kickoff 3pm.

Which is followed on the Tuesday for an FFA Cup match in the A.C.T. against Gungahlin.

Toughing it out - Marconi Stallions 0-2 Sydney Olympic

On Saturday night, I ventured out once again to Fairfield to see the boys play, a place where we had already lost 3 times this season, twice at Sydney United and once at Bonnyrigg. It always feels special to be at Marconi Stadium no matter what the occasion is, even if the crowds are no where near what they were during the golden days of the NSL or the pre-NSL State League era.

The 1^st half began with both teams understandably showing nerves, a by-product of the poor recent form both teams have been experiencing. After the slow start, Olympic had the better of possession and had the upper hand in proceedings. Our inter-play and passing was quite good but we were having trouble with the final pass and carving out clear cut opportunities. We did have a couple of chances during the 1^st half but the scoreboard was not troubled by either side and the score remained 0-0 at the half-time break.

As with most teams who are sitting at the bottom of the ladder, if you don’t finish them off early they seem to grow another leg, and Marconi certainly did that as they came out for the 2^nd half with great enthusiasm and endeavour in their bid to open the scoring. The first 15 minutes of the 2^nd half saw Marconi have a couple of really good chances and I’m sure if you ask them they would say that they should have buried at least one of those chances. As it was, we weathered that storm and found our rhythm again midway through the 2^nd half. We played some good football had a couple of chances to once again open the scoring, all to no avail. With about 20 minutes to go Michael Gaitatzis who worked hard up front was replaced by Dimi Hatzimouratis in a bid to find a goal. 5 minutes from the end, the goal would come thanks to a great run from Will Angel into the box where he was fouled by a Marconi defender. Harris Gaitatzis stepped and put his penalty into the top corner to give us a deserved lead. A couple minutes later the 3 points were sealed, a good cross from Troy Danaskos found Dimi Hatzimouratis whose first-time volley flew into the back of the net to seal the valuable 3 points.

It was Marconi v Olympic, so it was never going to be easy no matter where the clubs sat on the ladder. The performance was an improvement on last week’s debacle with Manly. We now must improve further coming into the important part of the season and find some consistency in our performances.

Our next match is next Sunday at Lambert Park against Blacktown Spartans - kickoff 4pm.

Unacceptable - Sydney Olympic 1-5 Many United

What has become of this season?

Only a few weeks ago, we were in serious contention of finishing 1st and securing the Minor Premiership. Everything seemed to be going so well, we were scoring for fun and confident in doing so.

The team currently is devoid of any confidence, the hunger and desire also seems to be non-existent from several players. In any sport and in any team, hunger and desire should be a prerequisite before setting foot on the park. We almost look defeated before a ball is even kicked.

On to the game, like many of our recent games, there seemed to be a lack of energy and dare I say a lack of motivation as once again we seemed to be going through the motions. We did manage to have a couple of chances in the first 20 minutes but we weren't able to capitalise on any of them. In the space of the next 10 minutes, poor play, poor defending and naivety saw us concede 4 soft goals and in what seemed a blink of an eye, the match was essentially over. To compound things we were reduced to 10 men just before half time. So we were 4-0 down and with 10 men as we headed to the half-time break. Understandably some of the supporters had already had enough and searched for the exits.

The 2nd half began the same way the 1st half had ended. Manly had several opportunities to increase their lead, some bad luck and some good Goalkeeping prevented an increase in the score-line. Mid-way through the 2nd half we had some more chances to score but again we were either thwarted by the opposition or poor finishing cost us. The miserable day continued as Manly would score their 5th, 5 minutes from the end. A late consolation goal for us made the score 5-1, it was irrelevant as we had been thoroughly beaten. We simply were not at the races and in reality we were never in it.

It really pains me to put up in black and white our recent run of results. But it needs to be done so that everybody realises where we are at the moment, and that we are nowhere near as good as we thought we were.

2 wins from the last 9 matches
7 points from a possible 27 points

In more bad news, our new recruit Tolgay Ozbey barely lasted 10 minutes as he picked up an injury, with fears he could miss the next couple of matches. Some players are simply not pulling their weight on the field and I have to believe that they are in serious jeopardy of losing their spot. In a connected story our 20's side won 10-3 in their match this afternoon. Surely the boys that have been doing so well in the 20's this season deserve a shot in 1st grade, considering our shocking recent form and the poor recent performances of certain players.

From a few weeks ago looking so good and riding high on top of the table, we are now in serious danger of dropping out of the Top 5 and missing the Finals all together. We must wake up before it's too late.

Next Saturday we take on old foes Marconi, who are struggling themselves, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they will lift at home against us, kickoff is 7.30pm at Marconi Stadium.

FFA Cup & Bye Round

I’m sure most Olympic supporters would join in with me in saying in regards to this weekend’s Waratah Cup Final clash between Blacktown City and Sydney United; who gives a f***

In better news, the round of 32 Draw for the FFA Cup was conducted this past Wednesday. I must say it was pretty exciting sitting there watching and waiting to see who our opponent would be. Would it be South Melbourne? Heidelberg United? Darwin Olympic? Or maybe even one of the A-League Franchises? The result of the draw meant it was none of these but a club from the A.C.T. - Gungahlin United, a club playing in the A.C.T. NPL and based north of Canberra City. That is the extent of my knowledge about them, but I’m sure the club will do their due diligence and find out as much as they can about them and be ready for this important match.

Onto the bye of which we are experiencing this weekend. Generally and without knowing any of the specifics, I suspect it will do the squad good to have a weekend off, to have a bit of break and to get over any niggling injuries any of the boys might have. Hopefully, everybody’s getting ready and gearing up for the business end of the season, with 6 rounds to go before the Finals.

Our run into the Finals, looks like this:
Manly (H), Marconi (A), Spartans (H), Blacktown (H), Sutherland (A), United (H)

Due to our poor recent form, the chasing pack sitting just outside the top 5 have a sniff of Finals and we must turn our form around and find some sort of consistency to stave off this challenge. We are off the pace of the top 2 and long odds to catch them, but there is still a chance of catching Bonnyrigg for that all-important 3^rd place finish, which guarantees a double-chance come Finals time. Although our results haven’t been too great, everybody’s energy must be put towards achieving a top 3 finish.

The League resumes Sunday the 12^th of July for Olympic. We take on Manly at Belmore - kickoff is 3pm.

Frustrations Continue - Rockdale 2-1 Sydney Olympic

This current incarnation of a Sydney Olympic team has to be up there with one of the most schizophrenic versions in the club’s long history. Every week you are at a game petrified over which version will turn up, good or bad, it certainly makes things interesting following them around. The teams you expect us to beat, roll us, and the games you expect us to do it tough in we come up with the goods. With only 6 rounds left it’s high time we get our act together.

The match started cautiously with both sides taking a while to find their feet. Throughout the first half both sides had chances to take the lead with no one managing to break the deadlock. Moments before the halftime break Dimi Hatzimouratis was sent clear on goal, the oncoming Rockdale Goalkeeper came out of his box and fouled the Olympic Striker, the Rockdale Goalkeeper was given his marching orders and Rockdale were set to play with 10-men for the whole 2nd half. If we had managed to score from that play and Rockdale stayed with 11-men, the match would have panned out differently, obviously.

Early into the 2nd half we found ourselves down through a deflected freekick which found an unmarked Rockdale player who put it away, a short time later we conceded another soft goal, we were now 2-0 down against 10-men with 20-odd minutes remaining. Michael Gaitatzis came on to replace Dimi Hatzimouratis and had a good chance to reduce the deficit but was thwarted. Harris Gaitatzis finally managed to get a goal back, but it was in injury-time and unfortunately for us it was too little too late. We had suffered another defeat.

So another poor loss in a match we really should have taken 3 points from to put pressure on the teams above. As it is, we will now be looking over our shoulder and hope not to be run down by the chasing pack. L-W-L-D-L-L-W-L is the shocking run of results we find ourselves in, unacceptable.

Next week the league takes a week off for the Waratah Cup Final. As a result, league play for us resumes on the 12th of July at Belmore against Manly - kickoff 3pm.

Promising signs - Sydney Olympic 2-1 A.P.I.A. Leichhardt

Just briefly before I get into last night's match. I will mention our Waratah Cup Semi-Final on Wednesday night at Belmore, which by all accounts is the match where the team's form improved and subsequently turned our season around. All be it we were knocked out after being beaten 2-1 in Extra-Time by Blacktown City.

On to last night, due to the inclement weather of the last week, our scheduled Sunday 3pm home game against A.P.I.A was moved to Lambert Park (A.P.I.A's home ground), which automatically put us behind the 8-Ball. The performance and result more than made up for this inconvenience though.

The 1st half began brightly for Olympic as we were back to playing our up-tempo style that saw us surge to top spot in the early part of the season. Will Angel and Troy Danaskos were lively on the Left-Hand side with the former making some very nice runs and carving out some good opportunities. The Japanese duo were buzzing in midfield, and Harris Gaitatzis and Dimi Hatzimouratis were linking well up front. Our good play of the first 20 minutes was rewarded when a long ball went through to Will Angel who chipped the on-coming A.P.I.A Goalkeeper, hit the under-side of the bar, and went in. A great finish and we were 1-0 up and playing well. We had several chances to increase our lead in the 1st half, but through some poor play and naivety at the back, we let A.P.I.A back into the match with a soft goal, we went to the halftime break all square at 1-1.

We came out up-beat to start the 2nd half, and 3 minutes in we restored our lead via a fine Leigh Egger header from a corner. Understandably, A.P.I.A who have been scoring for fun as of late turned up the pressure in their bid for an equaliser, but every time, they were thwarted by young John Dimitrakas who at 17 years old was making his debut in goals for the club. The young man played out of his skin and helped to keep the score at 2-1. Around 20 minutes into the 2nd half Brendan Hooper limped off to be replaced by Petar Markovic, and 5 minutes later an exhausted Yianni Spyrakis who had a very good game was replaced by Ryan Keir. Despite A.P.I.A's attacks we had several chances of our own to kill the game, but we were foiled by A.P.I.A's Goalkeeper who also had a good game. To the relief of the supporters the referee blew for fulltime and we had secured a much needed and much deserved victory.

So an important win for the club, and great to see everybody play well, including those who came on in the 2nd half. Also nice to see plenty of Olympic supporters at the ground last night. Hopefully this win gets our season back on track and gives us the impetus to make a charge for the top.

Our next match is this Sunday away at Rockdale - kickoff 3pm.

Downward Spiral Continues - Bonnyrigg White Eagles 3-1 Sydney Olympic

Where has it gone wrong?
Why has it gone wrong?
How can we make things right?

Three questions you ask yourself after another terrible display, this time a limp loss away at the Bonnyrigg Sports Club. Some players are clearly not up to it, and the recurring theme of the last few disappointing weeks is poor defending. So defense is clearly an area of concern. There was a lack of composure and self-assurance in the defensive third.

The 1st half began with a similar theme as in the previous few weeks, slow out of the blocks, no enthusiasm, no energy. We paid for this slow start conceding 2 very soft goals thanks to some poor defending, and before you knew it we were 2-0 down. What was an uphill task before kick-off became a mountain to climb, as it would take something special to grab a draw from that start. There was a lifeline around 10 minutes before halftime when we were a awarded a penalty, which was converted by Harris Gaitatzis, the remaining moments of the 1st half were dominated by Olympic and we could have had an equaliser but it was not to be. So we went to the break 2-1 down but upbeat that we were well and truly in the match.

The 2nd half began pretty much the same as the 1st half, some amateurish defending in the first 10 minutes saw Bonnyrigg open the 2nd half with a flurry of corners, and the pressure was too much as we conceded yet another scrappy goal. The 2 goal deficit was restored and once again we had it all to do to get anything out of the match. We had one golden opportunity to peg one back but a great save by the Bonnyrigg Goalkeeper kept the score at 3-1, from that point on we were pretty much going through the motions and at the final whistle we had recorded yet another loss.

So it is now 1 win in the last 6 league matches L-W-L-D-L-L. We are an imitation of the team that dominated the first 8 rounds of the season. The coaches have one hell of a task to solve these problems and get this group of players to find their early season form. In saying that the players are the ones out on the field, they have to figure out a way to re-discover their form. Otherwise it will be another wasted season for the club, after it looked so promising. Speaking to a few Olympic people at the match it is clear many of the supporters are also dumbfounded on how the team has found itself in its current position, given how good we looked earlier in the season. It needs to be sorted out ASAP.

Next match is this Wednesday, a Waratah Cup Semi-Final against Blacktown City at Belmore Sports Ground - 7pm.

Where To Now? Sydney Olympic 0-1 Parramatta FC

Well, what can be said about this insipid performance? There are 2 routes that I could go down:
Chalk it up as an aberration and say it was ''One of those games'' or;
Go down the route of a long-winded diatribe about how certain players are not putting in and are disgracing the shirt, as well as churning out absolutely shocking performances these last few weeks.

I guess I'll just stick to the match for now. The 1st half we didn't look too bad, good possession, passing it around well, without being penetrative. Parramatta, given their position in the league were always going to come to Belmore and park 10 buses. The question was, were we going to be good enough to break them down? Both sides had half chances during the 1st half, with nobody able to capitalise with a goal. Jason Madonis who was deputising for the injured Brayden Sorge in the unfamiliar RB position, had our best chance of the 1st half with a fine shot which was saved by the Parramatta Goalkeeper. Nothing too much to report other than that and we went to the break at 0-0 and the belief was there from the crowd that we would get the job done in the 2nd half.

The 2nd half we seemed to be going through the motions, we weren't looking dangerous in attack, but our defense didn't seem to be having any problems with Parramatta's attack either. Around 10 minutes into the 2nd half we gave away a freekick outside the box, and low and behold, a slight deflection, they scored, and took a 1-0 lead. Disappointingly, the urgency to go out and attack and try and get a goal was just not there. For the rest of the match we hardly created a clear cut chance anywhere. Deep into injury time we had a chance with a glancing header, but even that came to nothing. The referee blew the whistle, the nightmare was over, more points dropped, and the fans leaving the game were dismayed to have witnessed such a terrible display at home.

So it is now L-W-L-D-L in the last 5 league matches and the despair was clear to see on many of the supporters faces as they were filing out of the ground. How can this team, that was firing on all cylinders in the first couple of months of the season, now be so very poor and not even be able to consistently create chances? Many of the players are well down on their performances from earlier in the season. I do not know what the answer is. All I hope is that the people inside the inner-sanctum have some sort of idea on how to pull this team out of this worrying form slump.

Next match is next Saturday against Bonnyrigg at the Bonnyrigg Sports Club - 7.30pm.

That Sinking Feeling - South Coast Wolves 1-1 Sydney Olympic

Round 12 took us down the coast to the impressive WIN Stadium in Wollongong to take on the home side, the Wolves. The recent form slump for our side continued as we dropped yet more points against an all be it tough opponent, but an opponent where we should have come away with the 3 points.

The 1st half saw Olympic start another match sluggishly and we were punished for it within the first 5 minutes of the match. The opposition were presented with a chance and they took full advantage. The 1st half was very very disappointing considering last week's terrible display and result, a better showing to start the match was the least that was expected and it didn't eventuate. At halftime we went to the break 1-0 down.

Thankfully, the 2nd half looked a bit more promising as we started to play a little better and in the process create a few chances. About 10 minutes into the 2nd half we had our equaliser thanks to Go Shirai, there was now 30 or so minutes for both sides to find a winner. There were numerous chances created, but neither side could snatch a winner, we had a very good chance near the end, but it was not to be.

Considering we beat this team twice already this season, both times by a 3-0 score-line, this match proved without a doubt that we are in a slump, most of the issues were covered in the previous blog entry, and my views have not changed. Our form in the last 4 league matches are: L-W-L-D. We must pick it up.

For some reason FNSW has decided that we must play an extra midweek match to decide if we progress to the Semi-Finals of the Waratah Cup. Which will be this coming Wednesday against Balmain Tigers at Belmore Sports Ground - 7pm.

Halfway through the season - Where are we at?

 3^rd on the ladder, into the round of 32 of the FFA Cup, and still in the Waratah Cup, if someone had said that’s where Sydney Olympic would be sitting halfway into the season, I, and most Olympic supporters would have probably taken that. But is it as hunky-dory as it seems?

Squad performance wise, it’s been pretty good as a whole, the last 3 weeks not withstanding. Injuries have played a part in the problems of several positions. Troy Danaskos (outside of preseason) has not played a game this year. Howard Fondyke was looking in decent form, but got injured as well and has now not played for 2 months. Harris Gaitatzis’ agent has taken him to Thailand for a trial with a 2^nd tier side and as a result has missed the last 2 matches.

All 3 players are major losses that have hurt us in the LB - DM - AM positions, positions where we have struggled to fill as a result, which comes back to a lack of quality in our depth. But at Olympic we should be bigger and better than that, last year we experienced something similar at the back end of the year where the fixtures came thick and fast, and our lack of depth in several positions cost us in the big games. Hopefully there is not a repeat of that this season.

In the last 2-3 matches, the players are not playing up to the club’s high standards, some look dis-interested or have lacked the energy and desire, Is there enough internal competition within the squad so that the players are constantly pushing each other and as a result raising their levels? Maybe a few feel a little too comfortable? A lot of the players have been involved in the tough schedule, are they just tired?

I’m not in the business of telling people what to do with their money, how to run the club, or how to run the squad, but it is patently clear to me at least, that we must improve our squad with the inclusion of a couple of quality players. The issue then becomes, Where are these players? and Where are we going to get them from? This is another matter, but we desperately need re-enforcements.

Below are our results against our fellow current top 5 teams:
Well beaten 4-2 by Blacktown away (All be it with a weakened team)
2-2 Draw away to A.P.I.A
Flogged 3-0 away at United
2-2 Draw at home to Bonnyrigg (Should have put our foot on their throat and won 5-0)

Outside of Bonnyrigg, the other 3 teams have the quality but also impressive depth of quality in their squads.

Now I’m not stupid enough to proclaim panic stations, but the bad signs of the last 2-3 weeks leaves me to at least be a little worried of where we will end up this season. Barring some ridiculous form slump we will make the top 5, but is that enough given we made the Grand Final last year? A Grand Final where we were unlucky not to win.

Brought back down to Earth - Sydney United 3-0 Sydney Olympic

This Sunday we ventured out to the Western Suburbs to take on old rivals Sydney United. To say the least, it was a lacklustre performance by our players with only 1-2 able to hold their heads high, as we shipped in 3 unanswered goals.

The 1st half started with us having a very early chance from a corner, but we could not turn the ball into the net, the only other serious chance for Olympic in the 1st half came to Will Angel who did well and took the ball around the keeper only to put his shot wide of the goal, other than that there was not much to report on the attacking front. Defensively a poor mistake in the box saw us give away a penalty which the opposition dispatched, another defensive error also saw the opposition pick up the ball and bury their chance through a nice shot into the top corner. We went to the break down 2-0 and had it all to do to overturn the deficit.

For the 2nd half there didn't seem to be any urgency from Olympic considering the predicament the side was in which was disappointing, energy levels for the players also seemed to be down. There were no clear cut chances created in what was a frustrating days viewing. We conceded a late goal to see the score end up 3-0.

Last year we saw our lack of depth cost us in the back end of the season. It is disappointing to have guys like Troy Danaskos and Howard Fondyke injured as they are pivotal players, throw in Harris Gaitatzis who is looking odds-on to sign for a club in Thailand, and it's a lot of quality missing. A couple of quality signings are needed to improve the squad, especially if we are going to challenge on multiple fronts. This must be a priority for the guys in charge.

Next match we are down in Wollongong to take on the South Coast Wolves next Sunday - kickoff 5pm.

Olympic back on track - Sydney Olympic 2-1 Sutherland Sharks

There was an important Grand Final on today, so i am told. But at Belmore, the team who has played in more National League Grand Finals than any other Club was taking to the field for an important match of its own.

Sutherland, we have had many a big match with them since our return to the NSW State League in 2005, and although this Sutherland team was different personnel wise to the past few years, they can never be under-estimated and are always tough to beat. For Olympic we were coming to the end of a nightmare run of fixtures so a win was vital. We will have no fixtures this midweek, giving our squad more time to recover from the tough schedule (i'm pretty sure this is correct, if not someone correct me)

The 1st half saw our boys fashion many chances as we dominated play in the first 25 minutes, that all-important goal was eluding us though. The goal would come just a few minutes later though, thanks to the good work of Nick Tsattalios who delivered a great cross for Dimi Hatzimouratis to finish. We would go to the break with a slender 1-0 lead.

In the 2nd half, the match became tighter as a contest with chances proving hard to come by for both teams. 15 minutes into the 2nd half, Dimi Hatzimouratis was correctly awarded a penalty by the referee, who then got up, dusted himself off and scored the penalty himself to send us up 2-0. Despite being 2-0 up we pushed on looking for a 3rd and really should have had a 3rd, but the chances went begging. As always happens the opposition went up the other end and to their credit scored a great goal through a long range shot, all of a sudden it was game on again with roughly 15 minutes to go. Sutherland were buoyed by this and set out to find an equaliser, and did have a few chances of their own to snatch a point, but in the end the boys held on to record a vital win at home.

Our next match is next Sunday against Sydney United at Edensor Park - 3pm.

FFA Cup round of 32, here we come (again) - Sydney Olympic 3-0 South Coast Wolves

For the 2nd year in a row the mighty Sydney Olympic has secured a spot in the final 32 of the FFA Cup, defeating the South Coast Wolves last night. The match was at Lambert Park (if you believe reports, at the request of the coaching staff) on a very cold evening in Leichhardt.

The match got underway and quickly it became very noticeable how highly both clubs valued this match. With both clubs qualifying for last year's FFA Cup, both sets of players and supporters were aware of the reward awaiting the winner. The 1st half saw chances for both teams, particularly for Olympic, with nobody able to take advantage and the match went to the break at 0-0.

The 2nd half saw Olympic come out looking to break the game open with an early goal, and the goal came 10 minutes into the 2nd half after some nice work from Will Angel opened up an opportunity for Dimi Hatzimouratis who made no mistake with the finish. The goal spurred Wolves to come out of their 2nd half slumber and went chasing the goal, which suited Olympic fine as we continued to create chances in a bid to find the killer goal. With about 15 minutes to go, the 2nd goal came thanks to a good finish from the in-form Harris Gaitatzis. Olympic wrapped the game up with 5 minutes to go through Scott Balderson who converted a penalty to make it 3-0, cue the fulltime whistle and the celebrations.

We will go into the FFA Cup round of 32 main draw now, to await our opponents (not sure when the draw will take place) which will most probably be another state league opponent, perhaps from interstate.

Our next match is this Sunday in the League, at Belmore Sports Ground against the Sutherland Sharks - 3pm.

Undefeated streak ends - Blacktown City 4-2 Sydney Olympic

Our unbeaten run in the league came to an end on Sunday afternoon, at the hands of Blacktown City at Gabbie Stadium.

The coaching staff decided this would be the ideal chance to give quite a few players a rest. The recent schedule has been particularly difficult for the players, the Sunday-Wednesday fixture list for the past 4 weeks was beginning to take its toll, and given the club has an important FFA Cup match on Wednesday, this match was basically handed to Blacktown City.

Jason Madonis, Marcus Duncan, Ryan Keir, Michael Gaitatzis, James Andrew, Jack Green, Oliver Green all were given starts in the youthful looking line-up.

Blacktown City came out of the blocks and raced to a 2-0 lead. One of the few regulars in the side, Will Angel earned the team a penalty after making a great run before being bundled over in the box, the penalty was converted by Michael Gaitatzis sending us to the break 2-1 down.

10 minutes after halftime Blacktown City made it 3-1, despite the score line the game was still there for us to grab a point. Scott Balderson who had been brought on for the 2nd half scored a great freekick to make it 3-2, and all of a sudden we were in the mix to snatch a point, but a late goal to Blacktown made it 4-2 to give us our first loss of the season.

It was always going to be difficult with so many regular starters out, but especially so against an experienced and well-drilled Blacktown City team, given all that, the players put in a good performance and certainly no one disgraced themselves out there.

Our next match is this Wednesday to get into the FFA Cup main draw, at Lambert Park against South Coast Wolves - 7:30pm.

Late winner seals an important victory - Sydney Olympic 1-0 Rockdale Suns

Wednesday night saw the re-scheduled Round 5 encounter against Rockdale take place at Belmore Sports Ground. I was pleasantly surprised to see plenty of Olympic supporters make it to the game on a cold Wednesday night, well done to all who made it.

The match itself started with us having a couple of half chances, the opposition also had a couple of half chances leading up to half-time. Generally the first half saw the game get bogged down in midfield with both teams finding it difficult to carve out clear cut chances in what was a tense and at times a physical encounter.

The 2nd half saw much of the same as the 1st half, the recent run of matches by our boys looked to be taking its toll on a few of them as we continued to search for the elusive goal. The game looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw with both sides failing to find a winner. That all changed in the 87th minute when the ball sat up nicely for the in-form Harris Gaitatzis who smacked the volley into the back of the net sending the healthy Wednesday night Olympic crowd into delirium and securing another important 3 points.

Our next match is this Sunday away to Blacktown City at Gabbie Stadium - 3pm.

Win at Home, Away from Home - Sydney Olympic 4-3 Blacktown Spartans

For the 2nd week in a row our home match was moved (i'll expand on this later on) this time to the ground of our opponents for this week, Blacktown Spartans.

The Spartans came out of the blocks early and managed to get the opening goal of the contest. Harris Gaitatzis who pleasantly has been in some very good form of late led the charge scoring twice and being involved in a lot of our good attacks, Dimi Hatzimouratis also added another goal to his ever-growing tally and young defender Brendan Hooper scored a nice header as he managed to get on the end of a great Will Angel corner. This all before half-time.

Unfortunately in the 2nd half we seemed to rest on our laurels a bit and allowed the Spartans back into the contest, with them scoring a couple to make it 4-3, which in turn gave them the belief they could get something from the match, fortunately for Olympic and the supporters who made it out to Rooty Hill they were relieved to hear the final whistle and to know that the team had sewn up yet another 3 points.

On to the ground situation, obviously the heavy rain of the last couple of weeks and the condition of Belmore Sports Ground itself and the outside pitches would have played a part, and I understand the club would much prefer to have the matches go ahead despite the loss of home ground advantage, instead of having to play numerous mid-week catch-up matches during the season, which could cause some problems. But it is very disappointing to lose 2 home matches in succession, hopefully there isn't something sinister hiding behind the switch in grounds (Bulldogs etc.)

Finally feel free to leave comments if you agree or disagree and if possible leave some sort of marker that is specific to you, so that we don't have a bunch of anonymous' commenting..