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.
Monday, 29 June 2015
Monday, 22 June 2015
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.
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.
Sunday, 14 June 2015
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.
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.
Sunday, 7 June 2015
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.
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.
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