Sydney United move seven points clear after victory against Olympic
The win gives the Reds a seven point buffer on top of the ladder, with Ante Milicic?s first season as a player/coach going great guns nine rounds in.
The day however began poorly for United with Sydney Olympic taking the lead in the fourth minute of the match.
After an early tussle in the midfield, Paul Wither cleverly tackled Sydney United midfielder Glen Trifiro and won the ball in a great position for Olympic. As he ran inwards he opened up a gap on the right for Ken Chun to cross the ball to the near post, and after scramble, Matthew Mayora got a touch to the ball which took a deflection off Sydney United defender Milan Bosnar and trickled into the bottom right hand corner for the 1-0 lead.
Sydney Olympic tried to extend their lead immediately following the re-start, however the strong central defence of Sydney United stood tall and that led the home-side to take control of the centre of the park.
With Ante Milicic in great touch, the former Socceroo was dropping into the middle of the park and looking for his attacking teammates to put through on goal with Olympic goalkeeper Sam Emmanouil confident coming off his goal-line.
Nevertheless, Sydney Olympic had the next goal scoring opportunity and were very unlucky not to make it 2-0.
In the 18? minute, Tolgay Ozbey was brought down by Joe Vrkic on the right hand side for Olympic. From the resulting free-kick Chris Triantis calmly crossed the ball which fell to the feet of four United defenders who all tried to clear the ball and almost sent it into their own net.
The best they could do was put the ball out for a corner in comical fashion, however that wasn?t enough for Olympic. With Triantis then sending an in-swinging corner to the back post, a faint Ante Milicic touch sent the ball in the direction of the goal which was saved off the line by Sam Munro.
The home-side rode their luck and began to take control of possession in the middle of the park. In the 28? minute Milicic was put through by Glen Trifiro. As Milicic took the ball to the byline, he cut the ball back to an unmarked Elsid Barkhousir who poorly misjudged the bounce of the ball and sent it over the bar with no keeper to beat.
Three minutes later though, Sydney United equalised. After a corner had been poorly cleared by Olympic, Ante Milicic put a clever through ball that was not judged by Mirko Jurilj. Former Sydney FC striker David Zdrilic ran through the back of the defence and went around Emmanouil as he calmly slotted the ball home.
The strong first-half display by both teams continued to show as from the kick off Olympic almost took the lead again as a pin-point cross by Chris Triantis met the head of an unmarked Paul Wither who unfortunately headed the ball to the left of the post.
The game then went back-and-forth for the remained of the opening period as both sides failed to capitalise on their chances.
The best chance fell to rising youngster Glen Trifiro who saw his free-kick dip at the last moment and only just clear the top left-hand corner of the goal.
The second-half again began with a flurry for Olympic, however died down into a slower game of football.
Sydney United?s Ante Milicic noticed the game had turned stale and called his bench to warm up.
In the 58? minute Milicic made his first change bringing on Lisandro Berbis for David Zdrilic and then replaced himself five minutes later with in-form striker Luka Glavas to the cheers of the home crowd.
The substitutions however almost worked against Milicic as Olympic had the next chance to slot their second goal home.
As Matthew Mayora won a free-kick on the left-hand side of the field, a beautiful cross by Chris Triantis in the 64? minute met Mayora?s head and a full stretch Janjetovic pulled off a great save to keep the scores level.
The visitors continued to press for goals however were left to shooting from distance as the Sydney United defence little to no room.
After Sydney Olympic coach Nick Theodorakopoulos made his first change in the 80? minute with Chris Cahill coming on for Matthew Mayora, United found their opposition flat-footed and scored the winner.
In the 81? minute, Damon Collina found some space on the right-hand side and crossed the ball to a free and oncoming Elsid Barkhousir who finally headed the ball into the goal after three earlier failed attempts which sent the vocal crowd into frenzy.
Sydney Olympic again began to attack after conceding the goal however their goal-bound efforts continued to go astray.
With the game coming to an end, Sydney Olympic?s attempts at an equaliser were all to no avail as Sydney United ground out the win.
Following the match, Sydney United midfielder Glen Trifiro expressed his content at his side?s performance:
?I thought the boys fought well after going down a goal early. I mean it was a tough game and Olympic is a good side and in some good form.
?We are all very happy that we came from behind and won and Ante (Milicic) is very happy with the character our team has shown in the past few weeks.?
TeleChoice Premier League top goal scorer Matthew Mayora believed his team was unlucky to drop three points:
?We created our chances to score but I guess it just wasn?t our night tonight.
?I guess it is just three points dropped by us and our main focus is now training on Tuesday and preparation for our game against Sutherland next week.?
In the Grade 20?s match, Sydney United demolished a hapless Sydney Olympic 5-0 in a one sided affair.
Match Stats:
Sydney United 2 (David Zdrilic 31?, Elsid Barkhousir 81?)
Sydney Olympic 1 (Milan Bosnar own goal 4?)
Sunday 3rd May, 2009
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: Peter Vrtkovski
Crowd: 900 Approx.
Sydney United: 1.Vedran Janjetovic; 4.Milan Bosnar, 5.Damon Collina, 6.Joe Vrkic, 7.Todd Brodie (36.Michel Spear), 9.David Zdrilic (15.Lisandro Berbis 58?), 10.Ante Milicic (11.Luka Glavas 63?), 16.Elsid Barkhousir, 18.Glen Trifiro, 19.Mitchell Thompson, 45.Sam Munro
Substitutions Not Used: 2.Ricky Perenich, 20.Michael Frost,
Yellow Cards: Glen Trifiro 38?, Elsid Barkhousir 81?, Luka Glavas 91?
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 20.Sam Emmanouil; 4.Mirko Jurilj, 5.Michael Cindric, 6.Emmanuel Giannaros, 8.Paul Wither, 11.Tolgay Ozbey, 14.Chris Triantis, 15.Matthew Mayora (23.Chris Cahill 80?), 16.Jordan Simpson, 17.Iain Ramsey, 19.Ken Chun
Substitutions Not Used: 2.Bobby Dragas, 21.Nestor Tsioustas, 27.David Smith
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Elsid Barkhousir (SU)
2 – Ante Milicic (SU)
1 – Jordan Simpson (SO)
-By Chris Georgakopoulos
