Sydney Olympic picked up the all-important 3
points on Saturday Night against old foes Marconi, in what was a tight and
tough contest. Sydney Olympic did enough to claim what may turn out to be a
very important victory in the course of this season.
It was a cagey opening to the match, as both sides tried to take control of
proceedings. In terms of chances, they were limited and we didn’t see any real
chance at goal until after the first 15 minutes, which involved a nice passing
move by Sydney Olympic, with the only thing lacking was the end product. After
this early period of the match, we definitely started to take the ascendancy
and started to pass it around better and have much more possession and before
too long, we had opened the scoring. Alejandro Sanchez picked up the ball just
outside the box, before making room for himself to then let off a shot, which
managed to beat the Marconi goalkeeper and nestle in the corner of the net,
giving us a 1-0 lead. The match was becoming a real battle of wills, with not
many clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities being created and as time wound down
for the end of the first-half, it looked like we would be going to the break
with our 1-0 lead. But the referee had other ideas awarding a controversial
penalty to Marconi, as it looked like a clear dive from their player. They
missed the ensuing penalty but put in the rebound to make the score 1-1, which
was how it remained at the half-time break.
The intensity picked up at the start of the second-half and in the first 10 or
so minutes, Marconi looked the more hungry and desperate of the 2 sides and
were also looking more dangerous and more likely to score, fortunately for us
they weren’t able to do so. After this brief period of Marconi dominance, we
composed ourselves and re-asserted ourselves in the match. We soon took control
of the contest and 15 minutes into the second-half we carved out several good
chances, the first was a snap shot from Sanchez which was well saved by the
Marconi goalkeeper, the second chance also fell to Sanchez but his shot was
smothered by the Marconi goalkeeper, it was to be 3rd time lucky for Sanchez as
shortly after he headed home from a corner to claim his double for the night
and put us into a 2-1 lead. The match opened up considerably in the last 20
minutes, as Marconi pushed hard for an equaliser, leaving spaces in behind for
us to exploit. We did have quite a few chances to extend our lead but we could
not add goal number 3, meanwhile Marconi also had their chances, but our defence
held firm to keep the score at 2-1, which was how the match ended as the
referee blew for full-time.
So another important win against tough opposition. The last 6 rounds will be torture
for all Sydney Olympic Supporters by the looks of it, as the run home looks a
particularly difficult one and it is made even more difficult by the fact APIA
Leichhardt are keeping pace with us and right on our heels for the Minor
Premiership.
On the match being played at Lambert Park in the first place, the Canterbury
Bulldogs are playing matches there (last round and again next round) so our
home match had to be moved to Lambert Park, a ground we seem to do well at
anyway. These are the pitfalls of not controlling your own destiny with
facilities.
I wonder if we will hear anything about the Tempe Reserve thing any time soon?
In the Club Championship, the U18s got smashed 8-1, but the U20s managed to
grab the victory winning 2-1.
Next Sunday Afternoon is possibly our toughest and most important match of the
season so far, an away match against 3rd placed Blacktown City at Lily’s
Football Centre (Gabbie Stadium), Seven Hills. Kick-Off is at 3pm.
Monday 25 June 2018
Sunday 17 June 2018
Hakoah Sydney City-East 2-2 Sydney Olympic
Sydney Olympic once again paid for not being
able to put teams away and in the end, you’d have to say that we were somewhat
fortunate to grab a draw with the last kick of the game, to salvage a point
from the contest.
The beginning of the match was always going to be a tight and tense affair, as Hakoah are the type of team that do not give much away and are hard in the tackle, to the point of being over-physical during their matches. As witnessed in our first encounter with them earlier in the season, where you would be not be wrong if you thought they were meat proprietors instead of footballers. We had the best chance during the early stages of the first-half through Jason Madonis, a chance which was well saved by the Hakoah goalkeeper. We were on top and it would not be long before we did open the scoring, Alejandro Sanchez was put through on goal and he made no mistake to finish coolly and put us 1-0 up. Sydney Olympic dominated the rest of the first-half, in terms of play, possession, pressure and chances. The opposition goalkeeper was having a good game, keeping his side in it. Despite our ladder position, we have had a problem this season in finishing teams off during matches and it was the same story again on Saturday, we should have put them to the sword and been well out of sight at half-time, but we were not clinical enough in front of goal and at the half-time break we had to settle for a 1-0 lead.
If in the first-half it was total domination from Sydney Olympic, then the second-half would play out a little bit differently, it was a much more even contest. We carved out some half chances during the early stages of the second-half, but we could not add to our 1-0 advantage. After this period, the match would turn on its head as within the space of about 5 minutes, mid-way through that second-half, the complexion of the match had changed and we somehow found ourselves 2-1 behind. Firstly, through a speculative and flukey long rage goal and secondly, from a deflected freekick that found its way into our net. From being comfortably in the lead, we now found ourselves behind and would now have a hard task to turn it around. Credit to the players though, who did not switch off or give up and deep into stoppage time we managed to salvage something from the match. Max Burgess would be the hero, as the ball was fed to him on the edge of the box, he turned his defender inside out and with the last play of the game, he hit his shot, which was too hot to handle for the Hakoah goalkeeper securing us a 2-2 draw.
It is never easy to play Hakoah at their place and it certainly wasn’t on Saturday Evening. We showed great character to keep fighting right until the last minute, for which we were eventually rewarded.
The loss of George Timotheou for this match, who suffered an injury during the week was immense and it was quite obvious that he was not there, hopefully the injury is not too serious and we see him back soon.
As surely all Sydney Olympic Supporters would be aware of by now, Sydney Olympic is leading the competition after 15 rounds and are right in the mix to finish 1st. But there is no such thing as destiny and nothing is ever handed to you in this competition and with APIA challenging us all the way, we will have to work hard in every match, if we are to stay in 1st.
In the Club Championship, the U18s won 3-1 while the U20s lost 1-0.
The matches do not get any easier and our next match is another important one. A home match which has been moved to Lambert Park against the Marconi Stallions, on Saturday Night, June 23. Kick-Off is at 7.45pm.
The beginning of the match was always going to be a tight and tense affair, as Hakoah are the type of team that do not give much away and are hard in the tackle, to the point of being over-physical during their matches. As witnessed in our first encounter with them earlier in the season, where you would be not be wrong if you thought they were meat proprietors instead of footballers. We had the best chance during the early stages of the first-half through Jason Madonis, a chance which was well saved by the Hakoah goalkeeper. We were on top and it would not be long before we did open the scoring, Alejandro Sanchez was put through on goal and he made no mistake to finish coolly and put us 1-0 up. Sydney Olympic dominated the rest of the first-half, in terms of play, possession, pressure and chances. The opposition goalkeeper was having a good game, keeping his side in it. Despite our ladder position, we have had a problem this season in finishing teams off during matches and it was the same story again on Saturday, we should have put them to the sword and been well out of sight at half-time, but we were not clinical enough in front of goal and at the half-time break we had to settle for a 1-0 lead.
If in the first-half it was total domination from Sydney Olympic, then the second-half would play out a little bit differently, it was a much more even contest. We carved out some half chances during the early stages of the second-half, but we could not add to our 1-0 advantage. After this period, the match would turn on its head as within the space of about 5 minutes, mid-way through that second-half, the complexion of the match had changed and we somehow found ourselves 2-1 behind. Firstly, through a speculative and flukey long rage goal and secondly, from a deflected freekick that found its way into our net. From being comfortably in the lead, we now found ourselves behind and would now have a hard task to turn it around. Credit to the players though, who did not switch off or give up and deep into stoppage time we managed to salvage something from the match. Max Burgess would be the hero, as the ball was fed to him on the edge of the box, he turned his defender inside out and with the last play of the game, he hit his shot, which was too hot to handle for the Hakoah goalkeeper securing us a 2-2 draw.
It is never easy to play Hakoah at their place and it certainly wasn’t on Saturday Evening. We showed great character to keep fighting right until the last minute, for which we were eventually rewarded.
The loss of George Timotheou for this match, who suffered an injury during the week was immense and it was quite obvious that he was not there, hopefully the injury is not too serious and we see him back soon.
As surely all Sydney Olympic Supporters would be aware of by now, Sydney Olympic is leading the competition after 15 rounds and are right in the mix to finish 1st. But there is no such thing as destiny and nothing is ever handed to you in this competition and with APIA challenging us all the way, we will have to work hard in every match, if we are to stay in 1st.
In the Club Championship, the U18s won 3-1 while the U20s lost 1-0.
The matches do not get any easier and our next match is another important one. A home match which has been moved to Lambert Park against the Marconi Stallions, on Saturday Night, June 23. Kick-Off is at 7.45pm.
Monday 11 June 2018
Manly United 1-2 Sydney Olympic
Sydney Olympic got back to winning ways on
Saturday Night, seeing off defending Champions Manly United 2-1 away from home.
It was a match we dominated but needed some late heroics to secure the
all-important 3 points.
We started the match off very well and very quickly seized control of the contest. We were on the front foot and had a chance to take the lead early on, the chance was saved by the Manly goalkeeper. It did not take long for Sydney Olympic to find the back of the net, as the ball fell into the path of Radovan Pavicevic, who made no mistake by putting the chance away to give us an early 1-0 lead. We had a couple more chances inside the first 20 minutes to really put some space between ourselves and Manly, unfortunately we were unable to put away our chances and add to the 1-0 score-line in this time, we were clearly dominating. Perhaps predictably, not long after this passage of play, Manly went down the other end, and with their first real clear-cut chance of the first-half they equalised. Our heads dropped a little bit and perhaps sensing this, Manly bossed the closing stages of the first-half and even had a few chances late-on to go in front. Thankfully for us the half-time break arrived and we went to the sheds all locked up at 1-1.
In somewhat of a continuation from the second-half, we remained on the backfoot during the opening stages of the second-half and we may well have found ourselves behind, but we survived. After this we got ourselves back into the contest, the introduction midway through the second-half of Nicola Kuleski and Jason Madonis, certainly gave us the injection we needed as we once again re-asserted our dominance. We began to pass it around better and carved out several chances as a result, we had them trapped inside their own half for the final 25 minutes and it seemed only a matter of time before we found the winner. This confidence seemed to diminish as every minute passed by and we began to resign ourselves to the 1-1 result, but up-stepped Max Burgess with only a couple of minutes to go, who did well to control the ball and then shoot quickly passed the Manly goalkeeper and into the net, to put us 2-1 up. There were the usual nervy moments late-on but we held on for the huge victory.
So it was good to get back to winning ways, especially at a venue where it is always difficult to get something from, the players and coaching staff must be commended for how they’ve bounced back, after a tough last couple of weeks.
It is fair to say that if the result didn’t end up being what it was, this blog would have been about something entirely different. Like how do certain people, make it all the way to that level as a referee and not know anything about the game.
After the signings of Brendan Hooper and Zac Mackenzie in the signing window, the Club has also added attacker and former Sydney Olympic player James Demetriou, who played with us in 2013 before heading to Europe where he has played for the last 5 or so years, a good addition to the squad.
In the Club Championship, the U18s lost 3-0 while the U20s lost 4-0. Thank God for First Grade.
Our next match is another important one, this coming Saturday Afternoon June 16, away to Hakoah Sydney City-East, at Hensley Athletic Field in Eastgardens. Kick-Off is set for 4.30pm.
We started the match off very well and very quickly seized control of the contest. We were on the front foot and had a chance to take the lead early on, the chance was saved by the Manly goalkeeper. It did not take long for Sydney Olympic to find the back of the net, as the ball fell into the path of Radovan Pavicevic, who made no mistake by putting the chance away to give us an early 1-0 lead. We had a couple more chances inside the first 20 minutes to really put some space between ourselves and Manly, unfortunately we were unable to put away our chances and add to the 1-0 score-line in this time, we were clearly dominating. Perhaps predictably, not long after this passage of play, Manly went down the other end, and with their first real clear-cut chance of the first-half they equalised. Our heads dropped a little bit and perhaps sensing this, Manly bossed the closing stages of the first-half and even had a few chances late-on to go in front. Thankfully for us the half-time break arrived and we went to the sheds all locked up at 1-1.
In somewhat of a continuation from the second-half, we remained on the backfoot during the opening stages of the second-half and we may well have found ourselves behind, but we survived. After this we got ourselves back into the contest, the introduction midway through the second-half of Nicola Kuleski and Jason Madonis, certainly gave us the injection we needed as we once again re-asserted our dominance. We began to pass it around better and carved out several chances as a result, we had them trapped inside their own half for the final 25 minutes and it seemed only a matter of time before we found the winner. This confidence seemed to diminish as every minute passed by and we began to resign ourselves to the 1-1 result, but up-stepped Max Burgess with only a couple of minutes to go, who did well to control the ball and then shoot quickly passed the Manly goalkeeper and into the net, to put us 2-1 up. There were the usual nervy moments late-on but we held on for the huge victory.
So it was good to get back to winning ways, especially at a venue where it is always difficult to get something from, the players and coaching staff must be commended for how they’ve bounced back, after a tough last couple of weeks.
It is fair to say that if the result didn’t end up being what it was, this blog would have been about something entirely different. Like how do certain people, make it all the way to that level as a referee and not know anything about the game.
After the signings of Brendan Hooper and Zac Mackenzie in the signing window, the Club has also added attacker and former Sydney Olympic player James Demetriou, who played with us in 2013 before heading to Europe where he has played for the last 5 or so years, a good addition to the squad.
In the Club Championship, the U18s lost 3-0 while the U20s lost 4-0. Thank God for First Grade.
Our next match is another important one, this coming Saturday Afternoon June 16, away to Hakoah Sydney City-East, at Hensley Athletic Field in Eastgardens. Kick-Off is set for 4.30pm.
Monday 4 June 2018
Sydney Olympic 1-1 APIA Leichhardt
It was a much-improved performance from our last
2 matches, where it must be said we were quite ordinary. On Sunday Afternoon we
bounced backed to some type of form and Sydney Olympic was very unlucky not to
come away with all 3 points against APIA Leichhardt, 4 days after our
disappointing Cup elimination to the same opponent.
We started the match off well and had a couple of good chances inside the first 5 minutes, but both shots lacked the power to seriously trouble the opposition goalkeeper. Not long after this we had a header saved off the line, we were well and truly looking the better side. APIA only looked threatening in the first-half via set-pieces and even from those, they really didn’t look like scoring. We continued to dominate proceedings and 10 minutes before the half-time break we got our deserved reward, as Jinya An reacted first to a loose ball inside the APIA box to smash his shot into the back of the net, to give us a 1-0 lead. We were by far the better side in that first-half and we were deserved leaders, we could have easily been 2 or 3 nil up but at the half-time break we had to settle for the 1-0 lead.
We continued our dominance at the start of the second-half, while APIA did step it up, looked threatening and had a couple of chances. The best chance of the opening 15 minutes fell to us through a long-range drive from George Timotheou, which unluckily skimmed the top of the crossbar. We were clearly in the ascendancy but we could not find the 2nd goal which would have killed the game as a contest. APIA remained dangerous going forward, but halfway through the second-half, we were further helped as an APIA player was given his 2nd yellow card and was sent off, meaning we would be up against 10 men for the remaining 20 minutes. We had more chances in the next 10 minutes to put the game to bed but it was sadly not to be. As is usually the case when you let a team off the hook, it comes back to bite you on the backside and it did for us. With 5 minutes to go, APIA levelled the scores via a set piece headed goal, which totally deflated everyone in the ground. Despite this we kept our heads up and continued to push, this time for a winner and right at the death, we had a great chance through Alejandro Sanchez who’s lofted shot unfortunately hit the crossbar, as the full-time whistle was blown, we had to accept the 1-1 result.
It was a good bounce back from the disappointment of FFA Cup elimination. It was a match we absolutely dominated and should have had wrapped up early on, the prize on offer was big, the chance to go 6 points clear of 2nd place heading into the back end of the season, unfortunately we couldn’t get it done.
After signing Brendan Hooper in the window, the club has also signed Zac Mackenzie, previously of APIA. Whether these 2 signings will give us the push we need we will all just have to wait and see. You can’t help but wonder that we need something more.
In the Club Championship, the U18s won 2-0 while the U20s settled for a 0-0 draw.
Last Wednesday Night we had an all-important FFA Cup Round 7 qualifier against APIA Leichhardt. It was a nightmare before a ball was even kicked, with Paul Henderson, Alejandro Sanchez and Radovan Pavicevic all ruled out before the game due to injury, adding to the already long injury list.
It did not help that a goalkeeping error gifted APIA an early goal, which meant we were on the backfoot from the get-go. The makeshift line-up just could not create anything substantial in attack, while at the back, we looked uncharacteristically shaky and dis-organised throughout.
2 more second-half goals from APIA sealed our fate and once again, we were knocked out early from the FFA Cup and as a result the Waratah Cup, also for another year. It is disappointing to say the least and it is now 3 years in a row of non-progression.
For such an important match and even with all our injuries, we still did not look interested which was even more disappointing. Given the exposure the club and players were likely to receive if we had qualified, it makes it even more disappointing for all Sydney Olympic Supporters.
Our next match is this Saturday Night June 9, away to defending Champions Manly United at Cromer Park, Kick-Off is at 7pm. We need to kick-on now and have a good end to the League season.
We started the match off well and had a couple of good chances inside the first 5 minutes, but both shots lacked the power to seriously trouble the opposition goalkeeper. Not long after this we had a header saved off the line, we were well and truly looking the better side. APIA only looked threatening in the first-half via set-pieces and even from those, they really didn’t look like scoring. We continued to dominate proceedings and 10 minutes before the half-time break we got our deserved reward, as Jinya An reacted first to a loose ball inside the APIA box to smash his shot into the back of the net, to give us a 1-0 lead. We were by far the better side in that first-half and we were deserved leaders, we could have easily been 2 or 3 nil up but at the half-time break we had to settle for the 1-0 lead.
We continued our dominance at the start of the second-half, while APIA did step it up, looked threatening and had a couple of chances. The best chance of the opening 15 minutes fell to us through a long-range drive from George Timotheou, which unluckily skimmed the top of the crossbar. We were clearly in the ascendancy but we could not find the 2nd goal which would have killed the game as a contest. APIA remained dangerous going forward, but halfway through the second-half, we were further helped as an APIA player was given his 2nd yellow card and was sent off, meaning we would be up against 10 men for the remaining 20 minutes. We had more chances in the next 10 minutes to put the game to bed but it was sadly not to be. As is usually the case when you let a team off the hook, it comes back to bite you on the backside and it did for us. With 5 minutes to go, APIA levelled the scores via a set piece headed goal, which totally deflated everyone in the ground. Despite this we kept our heads up and continued to push, this time for a winner and right at the death, we had a great chance through Alejandro Sanchez who’s lofted shot unfortunately hit the crossbar, as the full-time whistle was blown, we had to accept the 1-1 result.
It was a good bounce back from the disappointment of FFA Cup elimination. It was a match we absolutely dominated and should have had wrapped up early on, the prize on offer was big, the chance to go 6 points clear of 2nd place heading into the back end of the season, unfortunately we couldn’t get it done.
After signing Brendan Hooper in the window, the club has also signed Zac Mackenzie, previously of APIA. Whether these 2 signings will give us the push we need we will all just have to wait and see. You can’t help but wonder that we need something more.
In the Club Championship, the U18s won 2-0 while the U20s settled for a 0-0 draw.
Last Wednesday Night we had an all-important FFA Cup Round 7 qualifier against APIA Leichhardt. It was a nightmare before a ball was even kicked, with Paul Henderson, Alejandro Sanchez and Radovan Pavicevic all ruled out before the game due to injury, adding to the already long injury list.
It did not help that a goalkeeping error gifted APIA an early goal, which meant we were on the backfoot from the get-go. The makeshift line-up just could not create anything substantial in attack, while at the back, we looked uncharacteristically shaky and dis-organised throughout.
2 more second-half goals from APIA sealed our fate and once again, we were knocked out early from the FFA Cup and as a result the Waratah Cup, also for another year. It is disappointing to say the least and it is now 3 years in a row of non-progression.
For such an important match and even with all our injuries, we still did not look interested which was even more disappointing. Given the exposure the club and players were likely to receive if we had qualified, it makes it even more disappointing for all Sydney Olympic Supporters.
Our next match is this Saturday Night June 9, away to defending Champions Manly United at Cromer Park, Kick-Off is at 7pm. We need to kick-on now and have a good end to the League season.
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