Sydney Olympic picked up the all-important 3
points on Saturday Night against old foes Marconi, in what was a tight and
tough contest. Sydney Olympic did enough to claim what may turn out to be a
very important victory in the course of this season.
It was a cagey opening to the match, as both sides tried to take control of
proceedings. In terms of chances, they were limited and we didn’t see any real
chance at goal until after the first 15 minutes, which involved a nice passing
move by Sydney Olympic, with the only thing lacking was the end product. After
this early period of the match, we definitely started to take the ascendancy
and started to pass it around better and have much more possession and before
too long, we had opened the scoring. Alejandro Sanchez picked up the ball just
outside the box, before making room for himself to then let off a shot, which
managed to beat the Marconi goalkeeper and nestle in the corner of the net,
giving us a 1-0 lead. The match was becoming a real battle of wills, with not
many clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities being created and as time wound down
for the end of the first-half, it looked like we would be going to the break
with our 1-0 lead. But the referee had other ideas awarding a controversial
penalty to Marconi, as it looked like a clear dive from their player. They
missed the ensuing penalty but put in the rebound to make the score 1-1, which
was how it remained at the half-time break.
The intensity picked up at the start of the second-half and in the first 10 or
so minutes, Marconi looked the more hungry and desperate of the 2 sides and
were also looking more dangerous and more likely to score, fortunately for us
they weren’t able to do so. After this brief period of Marconi dominance, we
composed ourselves and re-asserted ourselves in the match. We soon took control
of the contest and 15 minutes into the second-half we carved out several good
chances, the first was a snap shot from Sanchez which was well saved by the
Marconi goalkeeper, the second chance also fell to Sanchez but his shot was
smothered by the Marconi goalkeeper, it was to be 3rd time lucky for Sanchez as
shortly after he headed home from a corner to claim his double for the night
and put us into a 2-1 lead. The match opened up considerably in the last 20
minutes, as Marconi pushed hard for an equaliser, leaving spaces in behind for
us to exploit. We did have quite a few chances to extend our lead but we could
not add goal number 3, meanwhile Marconi also had their chances, but our defence
held firm to keep the score at 2-1, which was how the match ended as the
referee blew for full-time.
So another important win against tough opposition. The last 6 rounds will be torture
for all Sydney Olympic Supporters by the looks of it, as the run home looks a
particularly difficult one and it is made even more difficult by the fact APIA
Leichhardt are keeping pace with us and right on our heels for the Minor
Premiership.
On the match being played at Lambert Park in the first place, the Canterbury
Bulldogs are playing matches there (last round and again next round) so our
home match had to be moved to Lambert Park, a ground we seem to do well at
anyway. These are the pitfalls of not controlling your own destiny with
facilities.
I wonder if we will hear anything about the Tempe Reserve thing any time soon?
In the Club Championship, the U18s got smashed 8-1, but the U20s managed to
grab the victory winning 2-1.
Next Sunday Afternoon is possibly our toughest and most important match of the
season so far, an away match against 3rd placed Blacktown City at Lily’s
Football Centre (Gabbie Stadium), Seven Hills. Kick-Off is at 3pm.
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