Down the years, playing Sutherland at Seymour Shaw Park has always been
difficult, and even though it has been widely publicised that the 2016 version
Sutherland Sharks are an inexperienced and young side, it still didn’t make the
match any less difficult. It was as tough a game as we’ve ever had there.
The 1st half saw Sutherland come out all guns blazing and as with last week our defense was put under severe pressure, we were under constant threat from the Sutherland attackers. Once again, Paul Henderson stood tall for Sydney Olympic and combined with some desperate defending we managed to keep the score at 0-0. After absorbing all that pressure, we then managed to carve out some chances of our own.
Around 10 minutes or so before half-time, William Angel picked-up a long goal-kick from Paul Henderson he took it to just outside the box and smashed his shot into the top corner to put us up 1-0 to the delight of the Sydney Olympic supporters, it was a fantastic finish. Will has been a fantastic player for us over the years, the only real criticism that can be levelled at a player like William Angel is he hasn’t been able to regularly hit the back of the net during his long association with the club and he does get himself into great positions to score. With our current team the way it is this year, we’re all hoping that someone like Will can step up and contribute more on the goal-scoring front this season, because without a recognised striker on the field, we’re going to need others to step up.
After the goal, Sutherland went right back on the attack and had a couple of chances to equalise before half-time, but fortunately for us it was not to be and we went to the break leading 1-0.
The 2nd half got underway and Sutherland went right back on the attack. Our defensive frailties were once more exposed, as we were punished for a sloppy attempt at a clearance and gifted Sutherland an easy goal bringing the score level at 1-1. The game settled into an end to end duel as both sides would create chances and pushed to find the winner. With 20 minutes remaining, a goal would come and it would come for Sydney Olympic, some good work again by William Angel who put in a dangerous looking cross which was not handled well by Sutherland’s keeper and it spilled to Chris Triantis who made no mistake from point-blank range to put us back in front 2-1. The goal signalled a further opening up of the game as Sutherland pushed hard for another equaliser leaving opportunities for us to kill the game off. In the end neither side was able to add to the goal tally and the score finished 2-1, we had secured our first victory of the 2016 season.
The 1st half saw Sutherland come out all guns blazing and as with last week our defense was put under severe pressure, we were under constant threat from the Sutherland attackers. Once again, Paul Henderson stood tall for Sydney Olympic and combined with some desperate defending we managed to keep the score at 0-0. After absorbing all that pressure, we then managed to carve out some chances of our own.
Around 10 minutes or so before half-time, William Angel picked-up a long goal-kick from Paul Henderson he took it to just outside the box and smashed his shot into the top corner to put us up 1-0 to the delight of the Sydney Olympic supporters, it was a fantastic finish. Will has been a fantastic player for us over the years, the only real criticism that can be levelled at a player like William Angel is he hasn’t been able to regularly hit the back of the net during his long association with the club and he does get himself into great positions to score. With our current team the way it is this year, we’re all hoping that someone like Will can step up and contribute more on the goal-scoring front this season, because without a recognised striker on the field, we’re going to need others to step up.
After the goal, Sutherland went right back on the attack and had a couple of chances to equalise before half-time, but fortunately for us it was not to be and we went to the break leading 1-0.
The 2nd half got underway and Sutherland went right back on the attack. Our defensive frailties were once more exposed, as we were punished for a sloppy attempt at a clearance and gifted Sutherland an easy goal bringing the score level at 1-1. The game settled into an end to end duel as both sides would create chances and pushed to find the winner. With 20 minutes remaining, a goal would come and it would come for Sydney Olympic, some good work again by William Angel who put in a dangerous looking cross which was not handled well by Sutherland’s keeper and it spilled to Chris Triantis who made no mistake from point-blank range to put us back in front 2-1. The goal signalled a further opening up of the game as Sutherland pushed hard for another equaliser leaving opportunities for us to kill the game off. In the end neither side was able to add to the goal tally and the score finished 2-1, we had secured our first victory of the 2016 season.
We were worthy of our victory, but this match once again highlighted our vulnerabilities in defense, something we must get right especially when we come up against the better teams. Also, playing without a recognised striker poses its own problems, like who is going to be the guy to score our goals this season, because at the moment we continue to rely on midfielders.
In the 20’s we finally got our first win there as well, Michael Gaitatzis and the very impressive Adrian Vranic helped the side come back after being down and win 3-2. But one can’t help thinking that if Vranic was given a proper sustained shot in 1st Grade he could help us win more games and our chances of having a more successful season would increase. The coaching staff have their own reasons for sticking him in the 20’s, I’m just not sure what any of those reasons are, maybe they’re hoping he can help the club in picking up valuable Club Championship points, but I digress. In the 18’s match we lost 3-1.
Next Sunday - 4pm - at Edensor Park, we have a huge League game against Sydney United, who did it easy this round beating Rockdale away 2-0. We must be switched on next week for what will be our toughest opponent of the season so far, a match we must be ready for.
But before that, we are in action this Wednesday Night, 6th of April, for an FFA Cup match against, West Pennant Hills-Cherrybrook. The match will be at Pennant Hills Oval No.3, Britannia Street, Pennant Hills - Kickoff is at 7:30pm.
A Big Thank you for the brilliant support on the night - much appreciated.
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