Their opponents were gallant in defeat and certainly came back very strongly late in the game but, on the whole, were no match for the blue and white machine expertly assembled under the tutelage of the wily old fox Grant Lee.
The opening minutes provided a tight contest and it was not until the quarter-hour mark that a powerful shot from Will Angel was, very luckily for Sutherland, deviated away for a corner by a defender who didn’t really know too much about it. From the ensuing corner kick Brendan Hooper headed just centimetres over the crossbar.
In the 20th minute, after some nice lead-up play, Dimitri Hatzimouratis turned the ball just wide of the post.
Sutherland Sharks replied shortly afterwards with Bai Antoniou who didn’t miss the goal by much in what amounted to the first chance of the game for the visitors.
In the 26th minute from some distance, Scott Balderson thought that he would try his luck, but his powerful attempt finished just over the crossbar in what was a close call indeed for goalkeeper Nathan Denham.
Sydney Olympic broke the deadlock in the 30th minute when Hatzimouratis knocked the ball in from close range after receiving a beautiful cross from near the by-line by Nick Tsattalios and it was no more than Olympic deserved.
However, the goal was also thanks to a brilliant piece of refereeing from Kurt Ams who had just let play progress seconds earlier when Balderson was brought down in the box by Daniel Mitwali.
The last quarter hour of play in the first half was almost a carbon copy of the first 15 minutes: tight and closely marked by both teams.
The first half ended thus with Olympic going into the break with a narrow lead.
The second half started in much the same fashion as the first half finished and it was not until the 56thminute, when a dangerous cross from Sean O’Connell for the visitors floated wide, that the first real chance of the second stanza of play arrived.
In the 60th minute Hatzimouratis was brought down in the box by Nick Littler and referee Ams correctly awarded the penalty to the home side. It was Hatzimouratis himself who stepped up to the mark and made no mistake sending Denham the wrong way to give the home side a 2-0 lead.
Sydney Olympic in the 75th minute should really have scored their third goal and Hatzimouratis could well have scored his hat-trick when a beautiful cross from the left by Tsattalios reached him at the far post, but somehow he hesitated and failed to properly control the ball which then trickled wide by a very narrow margin.
It was a real let-off for the Sutherland Sharks who took full advantage and came home extremely strongly.
In the 77th minute they scored a goal to give the home side some real heart palpitations.
Nick Littler from distance blasted the ball home to beat all and sundry and it was now game on at Belmore.
Shortly afterwards, buoyed by their against-the-run-of-play goal, Sutherland Sharks almost equalised when Seongjin Park drove home powerfully but the experienced Paul Henderson between the posts for the home side neutralised.
Sydney Olympic came close to restoring their two-goal margin in the 84th minute when the livewire Go Shirai from the right almost brilliantly chipped the goalkeeper but somehow Denham at full stretch turned the ball over the crossbar for a corner.
In the 88th minute Perry Moustakas received the ball after a lovely cross from the right and, with a delightful flick-on header, almost equalised for the visitors except that Henderson turned the ball over the crossbar.
A late free-kick from Littler from outside the box finished just wide of the mark and, well into stoppage time, Jordan Figon fired over from very close range.
It was a grandstand finish as the Sutherland Sharks came home with the wind in their sails.
Sydney Olympic: Henderson, Sorge, Hooper, Spyrakis, Angel (Keir 86’), Hatzimouratis, Balderson (M.Gaitatzis 70’), Markovic, Soeda, Go Shirai, Tsattalios.
0 comments:
Post a Comment