Monday 1 August 2016

On a Roll - Wollongong Wolves 1-2 Sydney Olympic

After 3 victories in succession, we went down to Wollongong hoping to make it 4 in a row. It’s never easy to play the Wolves down there and given their current predicament in the League it proved to be again, as Sydney Olympic had to fight hard to come away with the victory and the all-important 3 points to continue our great late-season form.

As in recent weeks we started the match off well and quickly got on top. We controlled the match for large portions of that First Half and created the majority of the chances. 20 minutes into the match and the pressure told, Hagi Gligor finishing off well from a nice cross from Jack Green to put us 1-0 up. After the opening goal we continued to dominate proceedings. Mitch Stamatellis had a chance to double our lead but his header smacked against the crossbar. Just before half-time we would grab our second, which again came through Hagi Gligor to get his First Half double. We had a few other chances throughout the First Half but we could not take advantage. Wollongong Wolves had a couple of half chances throughout the First Half but never really looked like scoring, at half-time we were the dominant team and went to the sheds leading 2-0.

As if realising the gravity of their current predicament, Wollongong came out hard in the Second Half in a bid to get back into the match. Within the first 5 minutes of the Second Half they had already pulled a goal back, via the penalty spot. The next 40 minutes would turn out to be some nail-biting stuff as Wollongong searched for another goal and us trying to hold on. Paul Henderson had another great match between the sticks as he made crucial saves down the stretch. Of course with Wollongong pushing hard looking for the equaliser it gave us a couple of opportunities to hit them on the break, all of which came to no avail. With time ticking down Wollongong gave it one last shot but our defense held firm and the relief was clear for all to see as the referee blew for full-time to give us a 2-1 victory, our fourth on the trot.

It was the classic “game of two halves” as the momentum swung from Sydney Olympic in the First Half to Wollongong Wolves in the Second Half, but we were good enough to hold on and bank another important 3 points. A Finals berth is within our reach, something that most would have though impossible earlier in the season. Well done to everybody on our recent form.

For the Club Championship, in the U18s we lost 4-0 and in the U20s we won 2-1. Combined with our 2-1 victory in First Grade this secured us 18 points towards the Club Championship. It’s been a big change from 6-8 weeks ago, where it looked like we would be involved in a relegation battle to now being comfortably inside the top half of the Club Championship.

Next weekend, Sunday August 7, is our last home game of the year, it will be a big day, so hopefully plenty of Sydney Olympic Supporters come down and support the club and help continue our late season form.

In what we hope will be an annual thing at every last home match of the season, the Sydney Olympic old boys will play against a team of NSL all-stars at 2pm, prior to the First Grade match.

There will be plenty of other things happening at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday as the club will unveil its new logo for 2017 and beyond. Check the clubs website and official channels for further details.

First Grade Kickoff at Belmore Sports Ground for the match against Rockdale is 3pm. 

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