Wollongong Wolves 0-4 Sydney Olympic

Sydney Olympic has made it 3 wins a row, after defeating the Wollongong Wolves down in Wollongong on Sunday afternoon. The team has come through a difficult spell in the middle of the season and is now entering into some good form at the right time of the season, with Finals around the corner.

Tension was in the air in Wollongong, as both sides had something riding on the result, Wollongong a potential Finals spot and us, chasing the Minor Premiership. It was a fairly even first-half, although Wollongong made the early running in the opening 15 or so minutes, having a couple chances in the process. They could not take advantage, allowing us to settle back into the contest. We dominated the final 25 minutes of the first-half, dominating possession and piling on the pressure onto Wollongong’s backline, we just could not create that one golden chance to put us ahead. But we kept trying, kept pushing and we were eventually rewarded in the shadows of the half-time break. A nice ball found Alejandro Sanchez, who drove towards goal and let off a stinging shot passed the Wollongong goalkeeper to put us 1-0 up. Which was how the score stayed heading into half-time.

5 minutes into the second-half we extended our lead, via a rare headed goal from Niko Tsattalios. After this, we relaxed a little bit too much and invited Wollongong back into the game. They had a couple of chances of their own to pull a goal back, but our defense held firm. After surviving this scare, with 15 minutes to go we went and grabbed our 3rd of the afternoon, with Alejandro Sanchez picking up goal number 2 for himself through another clinical finish. Despite the score-line, the Wolves kept threatening to score themselves, but we continued to keep them at bay and kept our clean sheet. Perhaps cruelly for Wollongong, in injury time we made it 4 thanks to a goal from Max Burgess. At the full-time whistle, we were extremely happy to come away from there with a big win and the important 3 points.

It was a clinical Sydney Olympic display and an even better result, as we continue to keep up the pressure on 1st place APIA Leichhardt, in the tussle for the Minor Premiership.

As the full-time result was known from our fixture, we all turned our attention to the match at Lambert Park, where at the same time, APIA Leichhardt was 30 minutes into their match with the Bonnyrigg White Eagles and happened to be 3-0 down.

What happened next, can only be described as one of the most bizarre turn-arounds ever seen. APIA went on to score the next 6 goals, unanswered, while Bonnyrigg also happened to have 3 of their players sent off during this same period. Remarkable to say the least.

If that happened in Greece, Italy, Croatia, Serbia etc. you can bet your bottom dollar match-fixing accusations would have been thrown around like confetti. While no one is suggesting anything untoward occurred yesterday at Lambert Park, all we can do is read the comments of the Bonnyrigg coach at the conclusion of their match, where he said in his post-match interview – “I don’t think I should say anything, I might get in trouble.” – Make of that what you will.

Questions must also be asked of Football NSW, on why it staggered the Kick-Off times for the 2 teams in the running for the Minor Premiership? Why didn’t Football NSW, knowing what the table was looking like, make the necessary changes to avoid any funny business? Well we are talking about Football NSW at the end of the day, they have no idea.

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

Next week is the final home game and final round of the regular season. No matter what happens, or what needs to happen, or what happens elsewhere, Sydney Olympic Supporters should get down to Belmore Sports Ground after what has been a magnificent season for Sydney Olympic and support the players as they take on Sydney United. So get there this Sunday Afternoon, Kick-Off is at 3pm.