Sutherland Sharks 3-0 Sydney Olympic

In all my years watching Sydney Olympic, Saturday Night would have to go down as one of the most pathetic displays by any Sydney Olympic team ever. Copping our 2nd loss of the season to a lowly Sutherland team and it was a thrashing in every aspect.

It’s amazing to anybody watching, how far this team has fallen in only a matter of weeks, the players look like strangers out there, something is dreadfully wrong and the vast majority of the players look unhappy and don’t give a shit.

Defensively we continue to be poor and continue to leak goals, for the first goal, we allowed the Sutherland player to waltz right through us and OK not much could be done about the finish but the poor signs were already there.

The second goal was an absolute shambles, as a mix-up at the back saw us cop a killer cheap goal right on the stroke of half-time and the third goal just rounded out what was a shocking night for the club and the supporters who made it out there on Saturday.

In attack? It’s amazing how that part of our game has fallen off a cliff as well now. I do not remember us creating one decent opportunity against Sutherland on Saturday Night, it was bleak viewing.

We lauded the coach last season and rightfully so, but this season he’s been all over the place. Some of his selections in the starting side must be questioned and players are also playing out of position, bringing on Niko Tsattalios at half-time against Sutherland, only to bring him off again 20 minutes later, was at the very least, very very strange.

I guess the signs were there that all was not well, after what we witnessed against Nepean on Tuesday Night in a Round 6 FFA Cup Qualifier, needing some extra-time heroics to beat a 4th division team 2-1. Setting up a Round 7 FFA Cup Qualifier against Marconi, good luck with that the way we are travelling.

Confidence is clearly down and we’re almost at panic stations. We have just witnessed poor back-to-back showings in losses against 2 of the bottom feeder teams in the competition.

How we respond in the next couple of weeks will 100% tell us everything about the club and where we are going, we need to see some sort of reaction.

Now that the signing window has opened, most clubs are strengthening their squads by making signings.

Sydney Olympic has signed nobody of note at this stage and we are in most need of an injection, particular in midfield and defence. There are players at the club that are not doing their job well enough and should be dropped for others and replaced by players who will, whether new signings or other players in the squad.

For the Club Championship, there are no signs of improvement in terms of results either. The U18s drew 0-0 and in the U20s we lost 1-0. It has been a number of weeks since we have won in the 18s or 20s. A shocking run of results which sees us creep ever closer into a relegation battle that nobody wants.

Our next match is on Sunday June 2, against fellow cellar dwellers the Mt Druitt Town Rangers at Belmore Sports Ground, let’s see if we can maybe win a game at home. Kick-Off is at 4pm.

Half-Way Point - Sydney Olympic 2-3 Sydney FC NPL

After a good last few weeks, we have returned to the results which we saw and which blighted the early parts of our season. Quite a few should hang their heads after what happened on Friday Night.

No team should have the amount of chances we had and be as dominant as we were and still not come away with the win. It just cannot happen at this level and if you want to be taken seriously in this competition, you just have to beat the lesser teams at home and we have failed to do that during this first-half of the season.



For all the chances we did miss, at least supporters and people watching our matches can sit there and say that we are at least creating them. At the other end of the park it is a totally different story and where our real problems lie this season.

Defensively we have been very very poor. We have one of the worst defensive records in the League this season.

And to compound that fact, at the half-way point of the season (11 rounds) we only have 1 clean sheet in those 11 matches, dreadful reading.

To put this further into numbers, at the half-way point last season we were:

22 goals for and had only 8 goals against in 2018.

At the same point in 2019, we also have scored 22 goals, but we have conceded a whopping 18 goals against.

At the half-way point last season, we were sitting on 9 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss. This season we have 4 wins, 3 draws, 4 losses.

Being realistic, to replicate our first-half of the season performance from 2018, was going to be very difficult to achieve, but the drop off and difference has been huge, and it is not as if we have had a massive turnover of players.

For our defensive efforts to be this bad compared to last year is incomprehensible.

Furthermore, our home record this season so far has also been abysmal. Only 1 win from our first 6 home matches, that is also not good enough, and you can’t expect to be challenging if you do not win most of your home games.

Not sure what can be done to turn this around, the inconsistency is killing our season.

Most supporters would acknowledge that our squad is not as good and not as deep as some other sides in the competition and some even might say, that we just do not have the quality this season.

There is still another 11 matches to go this season, so we will see what is dished up.

For the Club Championship, the U18s drew 2-2 and in the U20s we lost 2-1. A shocking run of results which sees us creep ever closer into a relegation battle that nobody wants.

Some people are scoffing at this possibility, be aware that relegation is calculated not on First Grade standings but via the Club Championship, and if we continue on the road we are on, do not be surprised to see Sydney Olympic in NPL 2 in 2020. Ask Marconi, Melita, Bankstown, St. George, Bonnyrigg, Spartans, Canterbury how fun that experience is.

Our next match is a Round 6 FFA Cup Qualifier against Nepean FC, Tuesday Night May 21, at Cook Park in St. Mary’s. Kick-Off is at 7.30pm.

Our next match in the League is next Saturday Night May 25, against the Sutherland Sharks at Seymour Shaw Park in Miranda, Kick-Off is set for 6.30pm. Hopefully the players are up for it this time and can reverse the embarrassment of the first encounter this season.

Sydney United 1-1 Sydney Olympic

The 116th meeting of Sydney Olympic and Sydney United has ended in a stalemate and should go down in my point of view, as one where we should have added victory number 54 to the wins column. Only some heroics from the opposition goalkeeper, saved them from another defeat.

The first-half can be characterised as a stalemate. We played well during it, kept the ball well, ran hard and looked enthusiastic, but neither us nor they, created any significant goal scoring chances during the first-half.

There were the usual niggling antics from them and they did do their best to try and hack Alejandro Sanchez out of the game. They tried that last season and the great man murdered them. I don’t think they understand that getting him pissed off, doesn’t serve them well.

This should have proven the case once again at the start of the second-half, as we had several absolute golden chances to take the lead. The opposition goalkeeper made a string of crucial saves, while another effort looked destined to go in, but for a last ditch goal-line clearance from them.

Alejandro, Harris Gaitatzis, Jack Stewart, Jinya An all had great chances to open the scoring, but we could not get that all-important goal.

Predictably and only a short time later, the opposition who had nothing up until that point in the second-half, went down the other end via a flukey long range pass and hit us with a sucker-punch of a goal.

In what was a good sign for Sydney Olympic, we did not drop our heads or mope around, instead we quickly went to work for an equaliser.

We did not have to wait long as only a couple minutes later we drew level. A nice pass found Alejandro free behind the defence, who then crossed into Radovan Pavicevic who was free inside the box and he did the rest to bring the score back to 1-1.

We had chances throughout the back end of the second-half to snatch a winner, but it was not to be and we had to settle for a 1-1 result.

If it wasn’t for the opposition goalkeeper having a good day, we would have collected another vital 3 points, but it was not to be.

Overall, we are playing well and starting to get into a groove. We have some vital must win matches over the next couple of weeks so hopefully, our form holds up and we can get the job done over the next little period.

For the Club Championship, the U18s were smashed 6-2 and in the U20s, we were also well beaten 3-0. Another not so great weekend.

We have discovered our opponents for Round 6 of FFA Cup Qualifying, we were drawn to play away against Nepean FC. The match will take place on Tuesday Night May 21, at Cook Park in St. Mary’s. Kick-Off is at 7.30pm.

Our next match is in the League and it is on this Friday Night May 17, at home at Belmore Sports Ground. In what is a must win match against Sydney FC’s NPL team. Kick-Off is at 8pm.

On the women’s side of things, they suffered a rare home loss, going down 2-0 to the Northern Tigers.

Marconi Stallions 1-3 Sydney Olympic

After last round’s much needed victory over APIA Leichhardt, Sydney Olympic has followed that up with a magnificent performance on Saturday Night, by defeating a very good Marconi side, at Marconi Stadium.

The match did not start off on the right foot for Sydney Olympic. As within a couple of minutes of the kick-off, we went 1-0 behind. Thoughts turned to the match played a few weeks ago at Marconi, between Marconi and Sydney United, when Marconi started off similarly and were up 5-0 inside the first 20-odd minutes.

Thankfully, any fears of a repeat of that were put to bed. As 30 seconds after we had conceded, a long ball from the back, found Alejandro Sanchez in space, who finished off brilliantly to restore parity.

After this fast start by both sides, for most of the rest of the first-half, we dominated the play and we well may have scored another 2 or 3 goals but it was not to be. Marconi came back into the match late on in the first-half, but neither side could add to the score-line and so we went to the half-time break locked at 1-1.

At the start of the second-half we looked the much better side once again, regaining the ascendancy. We did not have to wait long to take the lead, as the ball once again found Alejandro Sanchez free inside the box and he finished off well again for his 2nd of the night and put us 2-1 up.

Marconi tried to come back again, knowing they needed to after falling behind. They had their fair share of chances, but we held firm defensively. In this period of Marconi dominance, we still had chances to kill the game off.

With 10 minutes remaining though, we did ice the game and made it 3-1. Thanks to a spectacular freekick from Nikola Kuleski, a real rocket which gave the Marconi goalkeeper no chance of saving.

At the full-time whistle, it was a happy bunch of Sydney Olympic Supporters who made their way out to Fairfield to support the team, as we recorded another important victory.

Through this tough stretch of fixtures, we have managed to take maximum points now against APIA and Marconi, with Sydney United beckoning next week, making it a trifecta of derby matches.

There has been a vast improvement from how we started the season to how we are playing now and there are some good signs going forward.

For the Club Championship, the U18s lost 1-0 and in the U20s we came away with a 1-1 draw.

Last Wednesday Night we progressed to Round 6 of FFA Cup Qualifying, after coming away with a 2-0 victory over the Stanmore Hawks. There were some nervy moments at times, but we did enough to get passed a tricky and in-form opponent.

We now await on who will be our opponents in the next round.

I will now touch on the situation, that phantom, that has become the Tempe Reserve redevelopment. The Inner West council are dragging their feet and have been for 5 years. Unlike before where some information was available, I personally, have zero idea what is going on, that may not mean much, as who am I, but still.

What I do see, and see it regularly, is countless announcements of other teams getting millions in funding, having pitches built etc. One wonders what is going on, maybe the Club can clear it up?

Our next match is Sunday Night, May 12, in what will be another tough match away at Edensor Park against Sydney United. Kickoff is at 5pm.

On the women’s side of things, they trounced their opponents, the Emerging Jets, 5-0 on Sunday and after 9 rounds are sitting top of the League.