Last Sunday?s match between these two teams had to be abandoned due to heavy rain, but the spectators who braved the cold at Lambert Park on Wednesday night for the full replay were rewarded on two fronts: admission was free and the game itself was magnificent.
The TeleChoice Premier League has produced some brilliant matches this season but it is debatable whether too many would have been better than this one.
After the game Sydney Olympic?s Football Director Manny Spanoudakis, who deputised on the bench for the suspended Milan Blagojevic, said that he was delighted with his team?s display.
?I was a little disappointed in the sense that I think we dominated,? he said.
?We probably should have had five or six goals tonight, but A.P.I.A. is a very good team and that?s why they never give up.
?Our position was secured in the top four but this win gives us an opportunity to potentially even get second place on goal difference and that?s why I am very happy with our display tonight.?
John Romeo, coach of the A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers, shared the view that the game was one to remember but emphasised that very little separated both sides.
?It was a heavyweight contest separated by a penalty to Sydney Olympic,? he said.
?Both teams played very well and it was an excellent display of football out there.
?It was a thrilling game and extremely entertaining for the great crowd that showed up.
?Every time they scored, we scored, and it went blow for blow. Peter Zorbas? unbelievable crack was really the difference between the teams along with the penalty.
?We were missing some of our best players and given that we had to field up to five players under 20 years of age, makes our display all the more unbelievable.?
In the 6? minute Sydney Olympic already snatched the lead when a Shannon Cole corner was well met by Siraj Al-Tall who beautifully headed the ball into the net.
The reply from the Tigers was almost immediate when a Stephen Kayes cross from the right was met by the new Adelaide United recruit, Robert Younis, who lobbed the ball past the oncoming Olympic goalkeeper.
In the 9? minute a Cole free kick didn?t trouble Matthew Nash between the sticks and from that point onwards the game seemed to slow down just a fraction.
However, in the 27? minute it all came back to life when Roger Galayini from the right fired the ball in and it beat Nash and finished in the top right-hand corner of the goal.
It was hard to work out whether or not Galayini meant it as a shot or a cross, but in the end it didn?t really matter as Olympic re-gained the lead.
A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt once again didn?t waste time: from a Jamie McMaster cross in the 32? minute it was left to Joseph Bruni to glance the ball into the net with a fine header from the near post to bring back parity to the contest.
The Tigers were inspired by their second equaliser and Stephen Kayes found Younis in the area, but he couldn?t get his shot away and nothing much came of it.
Sydney Olympic, before half-time in the 44?minute, took the lead for the third time when Matthew Mayora scored from the penalty spot and neatly placed the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net beyond an outstretched Nash.
The penalty was awarded when assistant referee Steve Nguyen spotted Younis? hand ball as he dived to turn the ball away for a corner.
The referee, only a short distance away, was unsighted and in hindsight Younis may have been lucky not to have received his second yellow card.
Both teams came out for the second-half much more subdued after five first-half goals. Franco Parisi beautifully found Younis in the 56? minute with a long ball but the normally reliable striker was off target with his finish.
In the 68? minute a Cole cross found Galayini and his volley was off target, but Sydney Olympic only had to wait another minute before securing their fourth goal.
Peter Zorbas, with his first touch of the game, lined the ball up and fired home a brilliant missile from 25-metres out which comprehensively sailed past Nash.
Zorbas? confidence at this point was sky high and six minutes later he tried his luck again from a similar position but this time he was thwarted by Nash who punched the ball clear.
Late in the game Galayini intercepted a poor back pass but could not find the target past an out-rushing Nash and the ball ended up only fractionally wide.
In the 89? minute A.P.I.A. scored their third goal but it was too late to really make any difference to the outcome of the game as shortly afterwards the exciting encounter was brought to an end.
David D?Apuzzo from the left fired in a cross which Will Thom missed but Daniel Clifford ? a defender ? was jogging on the spot to turn the ball into the net.
Match Stats
A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers 3 (Robbie Younis 7?, Joe Bruni 32?, Daniel Clifford 89?)

Sydney Olympic 4 (Siraj Al-Tall 6?, Roger Galayini 27?, Matthew Mayora (penalty) 44?, Peter Zorbas 69?)

Venue: Lambert Park
Referee: Attila Stibinger
Assistant Referees: Nick Backo and Steve Nguyen
A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers: Matthew Nash; John Kelso, Daniel Clifford, David D?Apuzzo, Paul Kohler, Stephen Kayes, Jamie McMaster (36? Wandi Jajaw), Simon Ryan, Joseph Bruni (85? William Thom), Robert Younis, Franco Parisi.
Substitutes Not Used: David Bodikian, David Garrett and Matt Kasbarian
Sydney Olympic: Sam Emmanouil; Matthew Jurman, Mirko Jurilj, Emmanuel Zunino, Nathan Sherlock, Roger Galayini, Milorad Simonovic (67? Peter Zorbas), Matthew Mayora (51? Anthony Doumanis), Anthony Hartshorn (77? James Kovas), Shannon Cole, Siraj Al-Tall.
Substitutes Not Used: N. Tsioustas and Paul Wither,
Yellow Cards: Younis  22?, Kayes 56?, Ryan 57?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Shannon Cole (SO)
2 – Matthew Jurman (SO)
1 – Daniel Clifford (ALT)
-By Joe Russo