Sharks set date with Wollongong after victory over Olympic

The win was decided by the expertly timed run of Nick Stavroulakis to meet a David Reid cross from the left and toe the ball home, when always looking second to the ball, in the 25? minute which gave home side Sutherland a 2-0 advantage they never looked liked losing in the first-half.
As early as the 2? minute it was Stavroulakis who linked up with Michael Katz in a sweet one-two that saw the diminutive midfielder strike a powerful shot goal-ward, only for it to clip Brad Boardman on the way through when in an offside position; but set the tone for the match.
Olympic broke not sixty seconds later when Paul Wither, clean through in a one-on-one with Phil Zabaks, only for the Sharks custodian to put his body on the line, not the only time in the game, and steer the ball away for a corner.
Sutherland countered immediately in a move that saw Brendan Gan play on to Brad Boardman who in turn crossed it for Ben Spruce. His lay off into the path of Stavroulakis ended with a neat ball through to Jim Bakis who could only hold his head in his hands as the ball flew wide of the mark in a move that would certainly have credited with goal of the season had it rippled the net.
With the game moving at a frenetic pace something had to give and with 13? minutes on the clock it was the Olympic defence that cracked first when Katz was released down the right and quickly stood up the defender facing him, turned him a second time before totally outfoxing the stopper and sitting him on his backside before crossing deep to the back stick for David Reid to ghost in unmarked and head home for the opening score.
It was no more than Sutherland deserved although Olympic had their moments without much luck in-front of the posts and some looked to the heavens when Stavroulakis netted the second for the home team driven by a greater desire to reach the ball first.
It would have been unjust had Brad Boardman made it 3-0 in the 33? minute when put clean through by Stavroulakis against Michael Herbet but yet again the goalkeeper made an outstanding save to keep his side in the match, although Olympic could have snatched one back just before the interval when Paul Wither had an opportunity that he headed wide of the mark in the last action of the half.
Anthony Doumanis replaced Emmanuel Giannaros at the start of the second period as Olympic tried to wrest the game back from Sutherland but it still took a while for the side to get going. The Blues did make their first move when Siraj Al-Tall had a shot deflected in the 53? minute that fell to the feet of Anthony Hartshorn who swiveled and fired home from close-range. Zabaks did well to get a finger to the ball though couldn?t prevent it from crossing the line as the visitors fought back to be just a goal down.
As the nerves crept into the Sharks side it was Zabaks who can be thanked for keeping the team on track when making several outstanding point-blank saves, as did his counterpart Herbert at the other end, as the game see-sawed end-to-end with Olympic now rampant and taking the fight to Sutherland.
The contest became more physical, and it wasn?t for the feint-hearted to begin with, as a few rash challenges and ‘niggle’ crept in, but in time honoured fashion no quarter was asked nor given as the tempo and heat simmered together just below boiling point.
It was a game where no team deserved to lose but in usual clich? parlance there could be but one winner and on this occasion it happened to be Sutherland Sharks after they hung on to their one-goal lead under constant pressure from Sydney Olympic thanks in part to a defence that threw everything at the ball to block shots and the excellent form of Zabaks.
An unusually reserved Brian Brown said afterwards:
?If Boardman had made it 3-0 late in the first-half the game was all but over but Herbert made an excellent save and as usual we didn?t do anything the easy way.
?First-half we were the better side and deserved our two goal lead but Olympic came back at us in the second and caused us a few problems, especially after pulling a goal back.
?Quite a few of the lads went into the game carrying knocks but now we have a week to get everyone back to full fitness for meeting with Wollongong again and I have to say I really feel for Shane Lyons who now looks likely to miss it (the Grand Final) after being sent-off.
?Olympic played very well again tonight and you would have to say that it was our desire that won us the game, we simply wanted it more on the day.?
Olympic Coach Milan Blagojevic was partly in agreement when saying:
?We always knew Sutherland would be hard to beat tonight especially as they were at home.
?With a bit of luck we would be playing again next weekend but we didn?t get any in-front of goal and it turned out to be another match where we just couldn?t find the net even though we created plenty of chances.
?Take nothing away from the Sharks performance, they were hungrier for the result but I was proud of our second-half showing and with the way the boys played.
?Good luck to both sides in the Grand Final.?
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 2 (David Reid 13?, Nick Stavroulakis 25?)
Sydney Olympic 1 (Anthony Hartshorn 53?)
Venue: Seymour Shaw Park
Crowd: 1020
Referee: James Lewis
Assistant Referees: Daniel Dewhurst, Gareth Askham
Fourth Official: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Sutherland Sharks: 99. Phillip Zabaks; 15. Michael Katz, 2. George Souris, 39. Neil Jablonski, 11. Ben Spruce (38. Michael Robinson 78?), 8. David Huxley, 7. Jim Bakis, 14. Nick Stavroulakis, 3. Brendan Gan, 22. David Reid (6. Shane Lyons 64?), 9. Brad Boardman (10. Matthew Hall 73?)
Substitutes Not Used: 21. Michael Brandalise, 37. Jim Nikas
Yellow Cards: Ben Spruce 51?, Shane Lyons 89?
Red Cards: Shane Lyons 90?
Sydney Olympic: 1. Michael Herbet; 4. Mirko Jurilj, 5. Michael Cindric, 16. Nathan Sherlock, 25. Emmanuel Giannaros (10. Anthony Doumanis 46?), 73. Mathew Jurman, 18, 62. Chris Triantis, 7. Milorad Simonovic, 9. Anthony Hartshorn (15. Mathew Mayora 74?), 37. Siraj Al-Tall (19. Marino Musumeci 58?), 8. Paul Wither
Substitutes Not Used: 12. James Kovas, 20. Sam Emmanuel
Yellow Cards: Michael Cindric 78?
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Nick Stavroulakis (SS)
2 ? Phillip Zabaks (SS)
1 ? Michael Herbet (SO)
-By Micky Brock