Sydney Olympic 1-2 Sutherland Sharks

With all due respect to Sutherland, if we at Sydney Olympic cannot beat cellar dwellers like them at home, than we can forget even thinking about making the Finals this season let alone making an impact in them, which was a long shot to begin with anyway given our horrendous start to this season. But this type of terrible result only magnifies that.

In the First Half it was us who came out looking the better side and we generally dominated proceedings. We were working well as a unit and playing some nice football, despite the rain which was teeming down by this time. We even created several good chances to open the scoring, but as is the story of our season so far, it was not to be. Sutherland were only looking dangerous via set pieces, corners and freekicks. We seemed to be in control but just could not find anyone to take their chance and hit the back of the net. Throughout the First Half, there didn’t seem to be any real danger to our goal from the opposition. This changed though right on half-time as they opened the scoring from a corner which found the head of one of their players. Unbelievably and undeservedly, we went to the half-time break down 1-0, with the supporters shaking their heads.

The start to the Second Half was similar to the start of the First as we came out hunting for an equaliser. We created a couple of chances; we were banging on the door. 10 minutes into the Second Half we were finally rewarded as Harris Gaitatzis finished well to make the score 1-1 and get us back into the contest. Unfortunately all that good work to get back level was undone, as a loss of concentration shortly after cancelled out our equaliser and once again Sutherland found themselves in front. Remarkably by this point the rain was actually getting heavier, which was making it all the more difficult for us to go on and find another equaliser. We tried hard but we could not create that clear cut chance that we needed to get back on level terms. By this time the pitch had taken on so much water that it was getting harder and harder to play the simplest of passes. Sadly we could not find the all-important goal and the game finished in a 2-1 defeat for Sydney Olympic.

We really should be taking advantage of the string of home matches we are having at the moment and to falter against the lesser lights of the competition is very disappointing. The rain teeming down all afternoon no doubt does not help, but we do not have anybody to make the difference in the attacking third and nor do we have someone up front who can put any chances we do create away at a consistent rate.

The absence of William Angel out on the field yesterday was felt by all. Hopefully he is available to play next week as we need him out there.

The talk of new signings coming in to help the side has not eventuated either at this point of the season and in fact we are losing more players than we are bringing in. Only a couple of weeks after Chris Triantis walked out on the club, Michael Gaitatzis has followed him out the door as well. This does not bode well for the important matches that are coming up.

For the Club Championship it was for the second week in a row not a great weekend. Our U18s drew 3-3, and our U20s drew 2-2, adding our 2-1 loss in First Grade and that only gives us 3 points for the entire weekend, following on from the 5 points we picked up last week, we are allowing ourselves to get dragged back in to the relegation dog-fight. We need to step it up.

Next week it does not get any easier, as our next League match is this Sunday Afternoon, June 26 at Belmore Sports Ground, against a rampaging Sydney United, Kickoff is at 3pm.