Wollongong Wolves 2-1 Sydney Olympic + FFA Cup debacle

The loss on its own is nothing to be ashamed of as the Wollongong Wolves are a good side and a contender this season, despite where they find themselves on the ladder at the moment. But for Sydney Olympic it brings to an end a disappointing week for the Club and its Supporters.

We started off well in the first-half and looked the more dangerous side, but as has been the case in many of our first-half performances this season we went behind after conceding 2 goals in quick succession. Just before half-time we had a chance to cut the deficit, but the chance was missed and so we went to the half-time break trailing 2-0.

We came out hard at the beginning of the second-half looking to get back into the contest. 10 minutes into the second-half we got our breakthrough, as Niko Tsattalios put in the rebound after the ball had come off the woodwork. Soon after we came close to drawing level only to see the chance cleared off the line. The last 30 minutes or so were frantic, as we looked for goals and Wollongong tried to hit us on the counter. Unfortunately we could not find an equaliser and there would be no change to the score, as we went down 2-1.

In fairness, the players had every right to drop their heads after what happened in mid-week, instead we saw a committed performance down in Wollongong against a team that is on the rise. With a bit of luck we could have quite easily walked away with a draw if not the 3 points.

So as it stands we are currently holding onto 3^rd spot on the ladder by our fingertips, with a gaggle of clubs all on our tails. The last 9 rounds of the season will be interesting to say the very least. Can the disappointment of being knocked out of the FFA Cup be used as motivation to do something in the League this season? We shall wait and see.

In terms of the Club Championship, our U18’s won 2-1 and in the U20’s we ended with a 2-2 draw.

A quick word on a few new signings. Liam Youlley played last week and he was joined by Mohamed Rahimi a player signed from Blacktown Spartans and George Timotheou from Canberra, who we signed from Sydney FC.

Who is making these signings? Does this person or persons not see fit to sign a Centre-Forward or maybe Left and Right backs, instead of having to play people out of position all the time, which at the same time removes those players from parts of the pitch where they are actually more useful and dangerous?

I’ve had a few days to ponder over what I was going to write in regards to the FFA Cup debacle of last Wednesday Night. We as in Sydney Olympic Supporters, have a tendency to be melodramatic and over-state certain situations.

But make no mistake, what happened last Wednesday Night was nothing short of an absolute disgrace and is just the latest in a long line of failures for Sydney Olympic ever since we were dumped back into this – black-hole / hell-hole – that now calls itself “NPL NSW”. If FFA or FNSW actually came to Belmore at the start of the year and handed us a pen and paper and told us we could create our own route to make the FFA Cup, we could not have come up with an easier route even if we tried, and yet still we failed.

Of course as a result of losing in the FFA Cup Qualifiers this automatically knocks us out of the Waratah Cup also. Now I can sit here and point fingers and play the blame game and there are plenty of people worthy of blame, but the only thing I can say is to remind the people running the Club at the moment, is that Sydney Olympic is not your play thing, the Sydney Olympic Supporters want to see a successful club from top to bottom and First Grade should be the crowning glory. 1 Championship and 1 Minor Premiership since the end of the NSL in 2004 is just not good enough and is actually an embarrassment.

Our next match is next Monday Afternoon (Queens Birthday Public Holiday) June 12, a tricky home match against an ever-improving Sydney FC NPL team, at Belmore Sports Ground, Kick-Off is at 3pm.

We need a Big Performance next Monday.