For a while there, i was really wondering whether to actually write a
blog about last night's match. Very rarely do I leave a ground after a defeat
as upset and as frustrated as I was last night. Triumph and Defeat are part and
parcel of sport and of supporting a team, and the triumphs will always be too
few, compared to the defeats. But even still, how that ball stayed out of the
.A.P.I.A. net will always be a mystery to me and be something that I will never
fully understand. As it is we have been knocked out of the Finals and season
2015 is now over. Another opportunity missed for the Club.
What makes the defeat worse is how well we have been playing recently and the
quiet confidence that the supporters had. Positive that we would get passed
A.P.I.A. and make it to next weekend. The 1st half of the match did not live up
to any great heights. Neither side dominated the other as it turned into a real
slog with crunching tackles flying in from both sides. Chances were proving
hard to come by for both sides and it didn't look likely that there would be
goal before half-time. There were a series of half chances but nobody could
find the opening goal. Right on the stroke of half-time though, A.P.I.A. launched an attack, the ball sat up
for one of their players, who's scuffed shot hit the back of one of the Olympic
defenders, with the ball looping over the despairing Paul Henderson to send
A.P.I.A. to the break 1-0 up.
If in the 1st half we looked a little dis-jointed, in the 2nd half it was a
completely different story. We had our foot on A.P.I.A's throat. We had chance
after chance. Brendan Hooper hit the post from his shot, Dimitri Hatzimouratis
had his shot saved onto the post, we had another shot that hit the wood-work,
Go Shirai had his shot remarkably cleared off the line by an A.P.I.A. defender.
It might have been Yianni Spyrakis who hit a fantastic lob, which was also
desperately cleared off the line by an A.P.I.A. defender. Wave after wave of
attacks brought out some more ridiculous saves this time from the A.P.I.A.
Goalkeeper, the ball would just not go in. It was destined to not be our night,
we just could not, no matter what we did, find the back of the net. We kept
pushing and pushing to find the equaliser, but it never came. We could have
kept on playing for another 5 hours it was just never going to go in. It was
just one of those nights. As the full-time whistle blew, the frustration,
disappointment and anger was clear to see on the many faces of the Olympic
supporters who ventured out to Lambert Park last night. Another year has
passed, another missed opportunity for the Club. Everybody was justifiably
gutted, a terrible way to go out.
As is customary in this league and with the nature of the NSWPL, we will almost
definitely lose some players for next year. Hopefully the players that remain along
with the coaching staff stay the course. Hopefully everybody does their homework
and can pin-point which exact players we need and can bring in that can help us
next season. Hopefully, with the addition of these players we can keep working
towards challenging again next season. There are also some fantastic young boys
in the 20's who are well and truly capable of stepping up to First Grade next
season as well.
Of course we are still in the FFA Cup. Our round of 16 match takes place in
Melbourne on Tuesday night against Hume City at ABD Stadium in Broadmeadows, in
the northern suburbs of Melbourne, kicking off at 7.30pm.
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