Monday 30 May 2016

Back to Back Wins - Sydney Olympic 3-1 APIA Leichhardt

For the first time in Season 2016 we’ve won back to back matches and we had to overcome a first half deficit to achieve it. The second half performance was outstanding, we fully deserved the win.

Right from the kickoff we were unlucky not to open the scoring as a Harris Gaitatzis freekick was well saved by the APIA keeper, as it would turn out the first of many many saves from him for the afternoon. The first half generally was a back and forth affair. There were not too many clear cut chances created by either side, but throughout the half both sides threatened each other’s 18 yard box. Overall, throughout the first half-hour you would have to say that APIA probably shaded proceedings, they were looking more menacing in attack and when they attacked they did it with numbers. Around 10 minutes before half-time APIA would open the scoring; they broke quickly and found themselves in a 2-on-1 situation and opened the scoring through a tap in. In the last 10 or so minutes of the half we picked it up a little bit in search of an equaliser but it would not come and we went to the half-time break trailing 1-0.

A couple of changes at the break seemed to do the trick as we came out for the second half all guns blazing. Moving Jason Madonis closer to the action and giving Will Angel a role roaming up front changed the match in our favour. The second half, apart from a few APIA attacks was complete domination by Sydney Olympic as we basically ran riot. The first 10 minutes of the second half should have seen us equalise at the very least, but the APIA keeper came up with several big saves, denying Harris Gaitatzis a couple of times. On the 60th minute we got our deserved equaliser via Jacob Boutoubia, who chipped his effort over the on-coming APIA keeper to bring the score to 1-1. Angel, Boutoubia, Gaitatzis in tandem with Madonis and the 2 fullbacks Green and Montford were causing havoc for APIA’s defence, as we flooded forward looking for more goals. Some more fine work from the APIA keeper denied Sydney Olympic and kept the score at 1-1. APIA were holding on, that is until they got a player sent off with around 15 minutes to go, which gave our Sydney Olympic the impetus to step it up further and hunt for a winner. Only a few minutes later the goal would come, some nice work from Will Angel on the flank saw him beat his man and send a ball into the box for an easy tap in for Harris Gaitatzis. Oliver Green put the icing on the cake two minutes before the end, as he found himself in space and finished well to give us an unassailable 3-1 lead, which is how the score stayed.

It could have been so much more if it was not for the APIA keeper. But the important thing is to keep on picking up wins and the all-important 3 points. As mentioned the changes at half-time for whatever reason sparked the team and made us more fluid and potent in attack as we ran the show in that second half, a great display.

For the Club Championship we won 2-0 in the U18s and lost 3-0 in the U20s, with our win in First Grade we picked up 15 points towards the tally. We’re slowly creeping away from relegation danger, but we need to keep it up.

Due to the Australia-Greece International on Saturday Night, our next League match away against Manly which was scheduled for Saturday Night, has been moved forward to this Friday Night at Cromer Park, kickoff is at 7:45pm.

Monday 23 May 2016

Sydney Olympic 2-1 Blacktown Spartans

It’s been a few weeks but we are back in the winner’s circle after a gritty 2-1 win against Blacktown Spartans at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday Afternoon. A much needed victory at that.

We started the match off well and with great enthusiasm. But given the current League position of our opposition, it was clear from the outset that they had also come to play. It was our Sydney Olympic though that opened the scoring via a shot which took a wicked bounce in front of the Spartans keeper, with the ball spilling off him and falling to Jacob Boutoubia who made no mistake to prod it home and give us a 1-0 lead. After the goal we created a few more chances during the 1st half, Boutoubia was looking dangerous and he had a chance at a 2nd goal a few minutes later with his well taken header destined for the top corner, only for it to be well saved by the Spartans keeper. Spartans hit back throughout the 1st half creating several chances and would probably say they were a bit unlucky not to grab an equaliser during the rest of the 1st half. We also had a few chances to extend our lead, but as it was we went to the break leading 1-0.

Despite our packed schedule of the past few weeks, we again looked energetic to start off the 2nd half. That man again Boutoubia was causing the opposition all sorts of problems, he created another chance for himself only for his shot to smash against the crossbar, very unlucky. 10 minutes into the 2nd half though, the match would be turned on its head. A dubious 2nd yellow card saw Niko Tsattalios sent for an early shower, leaving us to battle on with 10 men for the last 35 minutes. From us being on the front foot and fairly dominant we then had to retreat and play on the counter in a bid to hold onto our lead. With the man advantage Spartans lifted a gear to try and find that equaliser. Ironically it would be us who would score and double our advantage. Some nice work found a free Anthony Tomelic out on the left hand side, he put in a nice looking cross that found Michael Gaitatzis whose fine header found the back of the net, to the delight of the Olympic supporters. The 2 goal advantage was restored, but it was short lived though as only a few minutes later Spartans again reduced the deficit to 1 through a well taken goal. Throughout the match Paul Henderson was once again huge for us, pulling off numerous saves to keep us in the lead. The last 10 minutes were all about holding on as Spartans searched for the equaliser, but it was not to be for them and we held on for an important victory.

I must commend all the players, with many injuries, a few new faces and with a lot of matches under their belts already this season, they worked extremely hard and gave everything to achieve this win.

As seen today though, we are guilty at times of trying to be too cute with the ball inside our own defensive third, against higher calibre opposition we most probably would have paid for our mistakes, today we got away with it, we must learn from this.

In the U20s we won 3-2 courtesy of a virtuoso performance from Michael Loupis who scored a hat-trick, and in the U18s we picked up a 1-1 draw. Most importantly in respect to the Club Championship, it was a very good round as we picked up a valuable 19 points. More of the same please.

Last Wednesday Night we were in FFA Cup action against Sydney United at Edensor Park, with the reward being progression to the Main Draw of the 2016 FFA Cup. After putting in a good shift we succumbed to a 2-1 defeat. So there will be no FFA Cup this year and given the current system used by Football NSW, we are also out of the Waratah Cup as well.

So no more midweek matches for this season, which is a blessing. Next week we have another huge home game in the League against old foes APIA Leichhardt. Sunday the 29th of May at Belmore Sports Ground, kickoff is at 3pm.

Monday 16 May 2016

Rockdale 3-0 Sydney Olympic

Look, despite the score-line it was not a romp or some type of limp performance from us that lead to some type of obscene thrashing. We were the better side during the entire 1st half; we played them off the park for most of it and created a plethora of great chances. But we just do not have the players to put the ball in the back of the net at the moment. It might have something to do with the fact that we do not have 1 recognised centre-forward at the club, quite how the club allowed itself to get to this point is another matter entirely.

As is the norm with these types of matches where we dominate and do not score, sure enough the opposition popped up to open the scoring just before half-time, and we found ourselves 1-0 down at half-time.

In the 2nd half we tried hard and we were never out of the game to be fair, but we just could not finish off our good inter-play with any type of end product, we just could not score. The opposition stepped it up in the 2nd half and they were more decisive and clinical than we were and ran away with the match, scoring twice more in the 2nd half to run out 3-0 winners and take the 3 points.

Some comments from Coach Grant Lee after the Match:

- “You buoy other teams by the fact you do not punish them and then are encouraged because they think they should be down yet they are still in the game”

- “Then we are naive in our defending which comes from the fact that we get frustrated that we haven’t taken our opportunities”

- “We do have a young side and at the moment they don’t have that experience or knowledge on how to close out a game”

My response to this is we had a striker, a good young striker by the name of Adrian Vranic who is one of the more sought after young players in Australia, and you did not want him, you did not rate him and did not want to play him, for reasons I cannot fathom or understand at this time. And as a result he has now left Sydney Olympic and has joined up with another NPL club, a travesty for the club that cannot be put into words. Also another striker has apparently been let go in Mark Cindric. So we have massive issues now up front.

Also I’m not sure who is expected to buy the “we are a young and inexperienced team” line. Henderson, Sorge, Egger, Stamatellis, Madonis, Fondyke, Angel, Tsattalios, the Gaitatzis Brothers are seasoned players at this level and have played at higher levels than this. It is a rubbish argument and should stop being used. It hurts so much to see this club struggling this season. We must haul ourselves out of this hole we have dug for ourselves and do it quickly.

In the U18s we won 1-0 and in the U20s we had a 1-1 Draw. For the Club Championship it was not a good weekend as we only picked up 5 points and the teams around us all picked 
up more points. We need to start winning games ASAP.

On the Tempe front, news of the past week was that Marrickville Council, Ashfield Council and Leichhardt Council have agreed to merge and form a new “Inner-West Council”. Your guess is as good as mine on how much of an impact this may have on the Tempe re-development. We can only hope its impact is not in a way where the entire thing is scrapped.

Our next match is the Final Qualifying Round for the FFA Cup against Sydney United, this Wednesday Night the 18th of May at Edensor Park, kickoff is 7:30pm.

Our next League game is a match of major importance and significance in the context of this season and our hope of avoiding relegation. Against a team who are also battling to avoid the same fate. This Sunday 22nd of May at Belmore Sports Ground against Blacktown Spartans, kickoff is 3pm.

Monday 9 May 2016

Looking for that Killer Instinct - Sydney Olympic 0-0 Wollongong Wolves

Disappointingly our Round 9 home match was moved from Belmore Sports Ground to Lambert Park, thankfully we have a fairly decent record at the Leichhardt venue, our players seem to enjoy playing there and it’s a relatively short trip for the supporters. So all things considered there was no real trepidation about having to play there.

Of course it sucks when you do not control what you are doing or your own destiny, which is the situation we find ourselves in and have been in for a very long time. We are left to wait and see what another party is doing before we can do anything. It’s no way to live let alone run a Football Club.

That is why the Tempe re-development is so important for our Club. It’s a chance to finally have a home base of our own after many failed attempts, where our destiny and our future can lie in our own hands. Not much information is readily available about the current situation, but we all hope things are on the right track in this mighty endeavour.

Onto the game, the opening moments of the contest matched the weather of the day, very un-inspiring in large parts and quite gloomy. We started the match a little slowly and took a while to find our feet. Wolves dominated the early proceedings and had a couple of really good chances to open the scoring, a combination of poor finishing by them and some good goalkeeping by Paul Henderson kept the score at 0-0. After this though we came into our own and started to boss the game, as a result we created several chances to take the lead before half-time, all of which came to no avail and we went to the break dead-locked at 0-0.

The game livened up in the 2nd half with both teams having chances to score. It
was one of those games where we looked in control for most parts, but the danger of conceding always seemed to be there which kept everyone who was there on their toes. 15 minutes into the 2nd half things looked to have changed for the worse, as Oliver Green picked up his 2nd yellow card for something he said to the referee, meaning we had to play the last 30 minutes of the match with 10 men, which is never easy. As is regularly the case with these situations though, it was the team with 10 men who seemed to grow an extra leg as we were the ones who pushed even harder to find that elusive goal. We created several good chances to score but we were often foiled by some last ditch defending from the Wolves players and goalkeeper combined with some poor finishing. There was to be no last ditch winner and we had to settle for a 0-0 Draw.

We might be lacking goals and that “killer instinct” this season, but we are working hard on the pitch and we are a side that is hard to beat and there is something to be said about that. Combine that with our resolve and togetherness, which this team currently seems to have and they are good attributes to possess.

In the U18’s we had a 0-0 Draw, and in the 20’s we had a 1-1 Draw.

In regards to the Club Championship, this has been spoken about a lot already this season given our current predicament. It runs on the following formula:
1st Grade Points (x4)
20’s Points (x2)
18’s Points (x1)
Using this weekend’s results as an example where we picked up Draws in all 3 Grades, it’s obviously 1 point for a Draw in a Football match, this gives us 4+2+1 = 7 points contributed towards the Club Championship, which highlights the need for victories to avoid being relegated.

Last Wednesday Night at Belmore Sports Ground we were in FFA Cup 6th Round Qualifying action against Wollongong United. It was a fairly comfortable match with us qualifying for the next Round thanks to a straight-forward 2-0 win. A goal each from Eoin Montford and Adrian Vranic in the last minute of both halves was enough to see us through to the Final Qualifying Round, where we will play Sydney United. Details for the match are TBC.

For Round 10 in the League next Sunday, we are away to Rockdale, Kickoff is 5pm.

Monday 2 May 2016

Finding a way to win - Hakoah Sydney City-East 1-3 Sydney Olympic

It’s as if it was sweet poetry for Sydney Olympic to play Hakoah Sydney City-East on Easter Weekend. As many would know, there has never been any love lost between the 2 clubs going back nearly 60 years. Clashes between both clubs have been littered with moments - glorious, disappointing and controversial. After nearly 30 years apart, the rivalry resumed last Saturday Night.

We started the match off well and got into our groove rather quickly and we were looking threatening. But as their recent results have shown, newly promoted Hakoah were never going to be easy-beats and were never going to lie down, they also caused us a few problems throughout the 1st Half. Both sides had half chances to open the scoring. But around 10 minutes before half-time, it would be us who would open the scoring. We were awarded a freekick which Michael Gaitatzis took, he lifted the ball over the wall and dipped it into the bottom left corner, a great finish. After an eventful next 10 or so minutes, we went to the break leading 1-0.

In the 2nd Half we were doing it fairly comfortably, although Hakoah stepped it up a bit in a bid to try to find an equaliser. Most of the danger seemed to come from set pieces most of which we dealt with fairly well. It was unfortunate then that with 10 minutes before full-time, we conceded a goal which could be classified as “flukey”. An attempted cross from a Hakoah player floated towards the back post, beat all the players and the out-stretched hand of Paul Henderson and nestled in the back of the net. What could have ended in another disappointing night was saved as the boys pushed hard in the last 5 minutes to find the winner. And a winner would arrive in the last minute via a cool finish by Oliver Green inside the 6 yard box. It did not stop there, because deep into injury time Jason Madonis picked up the ball outside the box and bent his low shot around the Hakoah goalkeeper to put the icing on a huge Sydney Olympic cake. The referee blew his whistle for full-time and to the delight of the travelling Sydney Olympic Supporters we had notched up only our 2nd victory of the season, a much needed victory at that.

So it was a very important win for the morale of the Club, in what was a pretty good performance against a difficult opponent at a foreign ground where many of our players have probably never played before.

In the U20’s we had a 4-0 Win and in the U18s we had a 1-1 Draw.

Our next match is this Wednesday Night, May 4th, in Round 6 FFA Cup Qualifying against Illawarra Premier League club, Wollongong United. The match is at Belmore Sports Ground with Kickoff at 7:30pm. Hopefully the club gets all its security plans and procedures sorted because we all know that these people, this particular group of people, are known troublemakers and they will be out to cause trouble for Sydney Olympic and its Supporters.

Our next League match is this Sunday Afternoon May 8th, at Lambert Park with Kickoff at 3pm. It is supposed to be a scheduled home match but which has been moved from Belmore to Lambert Park and I shit you not, because of a Rugby League “International” between Lebanon and Cook Islands, absolutely ridiculous.