Sydney Olympic 1-1 APIA Leichhardt

It was a much-improved performance from our last 2 matches, where it must be said we were quite ordinary. On Sunday Afternoon we bounced backed to some type of form and Sydney Olympic was very unlucky not to come away with all 3 points against APIA Leichhardt, 4 days after our disappointing Cup elimination to the same opponent.

We started the match off well and had a couple of good chances inside the first 5 minutes, but both shots lacked the power to seriously trouble the opposition goalkeeper. Not long after this we had a header saved off the line, we were well and truly looking the better side. APIA only looked threatening in the first-half via set-pieces and even from those, they really didn’t look like scoring. We continued to dominate proceedings and 10 minutes before the half-time break we got our deserved reward, as Jinya An reacted first to a loose ball inside the APIA box to smash his shot into the back of the net, to give us a 1-0 lead. We were by far the better side in that first-half and we were deserved leaders, we could have easily been 2 or 3 nil up but at the half-time break we had to settle for the 1-0 lead.

We continued our dominance at the start of the second-half, while APIA did step it up, looked threatening and had a couple of chances. The best chance of the opening 15 minutes fell to us through a long-range drive from George Timotheou, which unluckily skimmed the top of the crossbar. We were clearly in the ascendancy but we could not find the 2nd goal which would have killed the game as a contest. APIA remained dangerous going forward, but halfway through the second-half, we were further helped as an APIA player was given his 2nd yellow card and was sent off, meaning we would be up against 10 men for the remaining 20 minutes. We had more chances in the next 10 minutes to put the game to bed but it was sadly not to be. As is usually the case when you let a team off the hook, it comes back to bite you on the backside and it did for us. With 5 minutes to go, APIA levelled the scores via a set piece headed goal, which totally deflated everyone in the ground. Despite this we kept our heads up and continued to push, this time for a winner and right at the death, we had a great chance through Alejandro Sanchez who’s lofted shot unfortunately hit the crossbar, as the full-time whistle was blown, we had to accept the 1-1 result.

It was a good bounce back from the disappointment of FFA Cup elimination. It was a match we absolutely dominated and should have had wrapped up early on, the prize on offer was big, the chance to go 6 points clear of 2nd place heading into the back end of the season, unfortunately we couldn’t get it done.

After signing Brendan Hooper in the window, the club has also signed Zac Mackenzie, previously of APIA. Whether these 2 signings will give us the push we need we will all just have to wait and see. You can’t help but wonder that we need something more.

In the Club Championship, the U18s won 2-0 while the U20s settled for a 0-0 draw.

Last Wednesday Night we had an all-important FFA Cup Round 7 qualifier against APIA Leichhardt. It was a nightmare before a ball was even kicked, with Paul Henderson, Alejandro Sanchez and Radovan Pavicevic all ruled out before the game due to injury, adding to the already long injury list.

It did not help that a goalkeeping error gifted APIA an early goal, which meant we were on the backfoot from the get-go. The makeshift line-up just could not create anything substantial in attack, while at the back, we looked uncharacteristically shaky and dis-organised throughout.

2 more second-half goals from APIA sealed our fate and once again, we were knocked out early from the FFA Cup and as a result the Waratah Cup, also for another year. It is disappointing to say the least and it is now 3 years in a row of non-progression.

For such an important match and even with all our injuries, we still did not look interested which was even more disappointing. Given the exposure the club and players were likely to receive if we had qualified, it makes it even more disappointing for all Sydney Olympic Supporters.

Our next match is this Saturday Night June 9, away to defending Champions Manly United at Cromer Park, Kick-Off is at 7pm. We need to kick-on now and have a good end to the League season.