APIA Leichhardt 2-0 Sydney Olympic

On an unseasonably stifling hot mid-March Sunday afternoon, Sydney Olympic was not able to build on its opening round win, succumbing to APIA Leichhardt at Lambert Park. The Achilles heel of the team over the past few seasons was on show, as we once again struggled in front of goal, missing several good chances, which ultimately cost us from getting something out of the match.

As you would expect, it was a fairly cautious start to the match as both sides eased themselves into the contest in the face of hot conditions and looking to conserve as much energy as possible. Pretty soon though the contest came to life as inside the first 10 minutes we had a decent chance to open the scoring, but it was cleared off the line. APIA hit back and had a couple of half chances of their own, one of which was well saved by Paul Henderson. The first-half was a solid midfield battle, as each tried to get on top of the other, with the odd chance being created. We looked fairly comfortable throughout the first-half and it looked like we would head to the half-time break dead-locked. Unfortunately, a clumsy challenge inside the box late in the first-half, gave APIA the chance to open the scoring and they did just that. With the last kick of the first-half however, we had a chance to pull level but a great save from the APIA goalkeeper denied us the equaliser. We were 1-0 down at half-time.

On the resumption of play, we took control of the match and began to dominate possession and pretty soon we would create several goal-scoring opportunities. We were now pushing hard for an equaliser, which predictably left us exposed to APIA’s counter-attacks and they looked dangerous in doing so. We had 3 very good chances inside the first 20 minutes of the second-half, but we just could not put any of them away, due in large parts to some fine work from the APIA goalkeeper. As is usually the case, we would end up ruing those missed chances, as APIA broke away and they did manage to score, to put us 2-0 down with 20 minutes remaining. To the players credit they did not throw in the towel and Sydney Olympic kept pushing, trying to score and trying get back into the game. But it was to be one of those days where the ball just did not want to go in, and we went down 2-0.

Everyone is pissed off with the result and I don’t want to trivialise it with phrases like “that’s football”, but some days the ball just does not want to go in and the “p***ana” certainly didn’t want to on Sunday.

Overall though, we played well and if we can continue playing like that for the rest of the season, we will win more matches than we lose. The players just need to keep their heads up and focus on next week now.

Our next game is on this Sunday March 25, against the defending Champions, Manly United, which will be another tough assignment. Kick-Off is at 3pm at Belmore Sports Ground. Get down there and support the club.