Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0-2 Sydney Olympic

As history has proven, Bonnyrigg has never been a happy hunting ground for Sydney Olympic since we’ve been back in the State League, having never won a League match there since we were thrown back into the State League in 2005. We did win there once in the Cup in 2011, but other than that it has been fairly slim pickings out there for us. All that changed on Saturday Night as we put in a great performance to come away with a victory and the all-important 3 points.

The match was a keenly fought one, with both sides knowing the importance of victory and the ramifications of defeat. After a circumspect opening 10 minutes from both sides, Bonnyrigg had the ascendancy for a lot of the First Half. They created the better of the opportunities but at the same time did not have many clear cut goal scoring opportunities; Paul Henderson was not troubled that much throughout the First Half despite Bonnyrigg being on top. For our Sydney Olympic, we were looking most threatening hitting them on the break through the likes of Will Angel down the Left and Josh Gaspari down the Right. We had a few half chances throughout that First Half but we could not find the back of the net either. After a tight and tense First Half, both sides had to settle for 0-0 at the half-time break.

At the start of the Second Half we looked a little more aggressive and assertive in our play. Bonnyrigg were also looking anxious and pushed hard in a bid to open the scoring. But it would be Sydney Olympic who would take the lead 10 minutes into the Second Half, after a quick break saw Jason Madonis end up with the ball in space, he dribbled the ball into the area and smashed his shot passed the Bonnyrigg goalkeeper to put us 1-0 up, a great finish. Bonnyrigg were now even more desperate to grab a goal, but Paul Henderson and our makeshift back 4 handled everything Bonnyrigg threw at them. With Bonnyrigg chasing goals and pushing up it left spaces for us to exploit and grab another goal and we had a few half chances to extend our lead but it was not to be. The opposition kept huffing and puffing but they could not blow our door down, we were solid defensively and held them out every time. With about 5 minutes left Harris Gaitatzis killed the game off for us with a smart finish to put us 2-0 up, which is how the score stayed at full-time, a much needed 3 points were ours.

So another good performance from the players and a huge win in the context of our season, which sees us stay in the hunt to make this year’s Finals Series. And it was done with almost a second string team, with many players unavailable for one reason or another.

For the Club Championship, in the U18s we lost 3-2 and in the U20s we lost 2-1. Our 2-0 victory in First Grade picked up the slack this week, securing 12 points towards the Club Championship.

In other news, out of nowhere, the Club through its Facebook page decided to announce a change in the Club Emblem for 2017, which would be welcomed by 100% of the supporters of that there is no doubt as the current Emblem was never loved.

Now I’m not sure about the protocols and procedures for these sorts of things but the members were not informed, were not asked and were not even made aware that there would be a change, the supporters to my knowledge were also not consulted at all. So the question has to be asked, who came up with it???



Some like it, others not so much. For me personally the design is a fine one, but the middle of it, with the soccer ball seems too generic and I and many others feel it does not represent anything to do with Sydney Olympic and should be replaced with a true Sydney Olympic identifier, the rings.



Plenty of members and supporters are rightly upset about not even being asked for their thoughts or opinions and any suggestions that were given in the last 3 years have been ignored. Fan engagement has been non-existent in this process. I suspect we have not heard the last of this.

All matches from now till the end of the season are now all “must win”. Next Sunday July 24, we are back at home at Belmore Sports Ground to take on Hakoah Sydney City-East, kickoff is at 3pm.