Sydney FC NPL 2-3 Sydney Olympic

Sydney Olympic is back in the winner’s circle after a dominant victory over Sydney FC’s youth team on Saturday Night. Do not let the score-line fool you into thinking the match was at all close, as we had 2 dubious penalty decisions given against us, making the match seem close, when in reality the end score was flattering for them.

After a week off, we pleasantly came out of the blocks fast at the beginning of the first-half. We controlled the tempo and most of the possession early on and very soon, we were looking threatening and dangerous in attack. We were rewarded for our early positivity 15 minutes into the match, as Max Burgess picked the ball up got into a good position and put the chance away through a good finish, to put us 1-0 up. We were all over them and with a bit of luck we could have had our 2nd very soon after, but it was not to be. As the first-half rolled on, we were certainly the far better side and we were showing it, but that did not stop the referee from awarding a penalty to the opposition late in the first-half, which they managed to put away to make the score 1-1. We didn’t drop our heads though and continued to push in an effort to re-take the lead before half-time. We had a couple of attacks and half-chances during the closing stages of the first-half, but as the whistle went, we had to settle for the 1-1 score-line heading into the half-time break.

The second-half was more of the same from Sydney Olympic, as we continued our dominance and not long after the restart we had restored our lead, a nice cross from William Angel found the head of Alejandro Sanchez to put us 2-1 up. Not long after this, we again hit the back of the net, thanks to a nice goal from Nikola Kuleski via a freekick. We were 3-1 up and well on top now, looking for more goals and looking to put the opposition to the sword. We had a plethora of chances to do so and realistically we should have been 5 or 6 goals up by the mid-way point of the second-half. But as is usual for Sydney Olympic Supporters, we had to suffer a few heart-attack moments near the end, as the referee once again gave another dubious penalty decision to the opposition. They put the penalty away to make the score 3-2, which was how the match ended at the full-time whistle.

The score-line looks close or “respectable” but in reality, they were never in it and it should have been a real pasting but it wasn’t, a common theme of our season.

So, it was good to get the 3 points and put ourselves back in the Minor Premiership race, as APIA Leichhardt slipped up down in Wollongong only managing a draw. These last 3 matches of the season will be massive and there will be plenty of twists and turns before we head into the Finals.

We have lost the services of George Timotheou, as he has signed a contract with Schalke in Germany, he had been a big loss these last few weeks and will now be an even greater loss for the rest of our season.

But all you can say is congratulations to George for all is hard work and wish him all the best for the future.

In the Club Championship, the U18s lost 3-1 and the U20s lost 6-0.

Our next match is this Sunday Afternoon, July 29, our first match back at home at Belmore Sports Ground for a long while, against the Sutherland Sharks. Kick-Off is at 3pm.