Sizzling Sharks trounce hapless Olympic at Belmore

Sydney Olympic midfielder Chris Triantis stepped-up to the spot to stroke home to give the home-side the early lead, although Brad Boardman had a flick header saved by Sam Emmanouil seconds before a Michael Katz cross found Panni Nikas unmarked in the penalty-area to head home the equaliser; and the battle was on.
Chris Price gave away a free-kick for the visitors that was floated into the box in the 20? minute that Michael Cindric should have put away with his head, but the Sharks went straight up-field and took the lead through Jimmy Bakis, which was extended further as they found gaping holes in the Olympic defence. Boardman, back to his best, tucked away a neat shot down to the ?keepers right as they forgot about the early setback and began to hit on the break and dominate proceedings.
It appeared a rout was on the cards when Bakis netted his second of the match one minute later as the visitors took an unlikely 4-1 lead after just 24? minutes as the Olympic defence was again ripped to shreds in a scintillating 3? minute spell by the Sharks.
The chaotic start prompted Sydney Olympic coach Nick Theodorakopoulos to replace Peter McPherson, who was a doubtful starter in midweek, with Bobby Dragas in an attempt to add some steel to a leaky back four.
Olympic to their credit continued to create half-chances but wayward finishing didn?t help the cause. The home-side was by far the happier to hear the half-time whistle as they trudged off the pitch shell-shocked.
Ken Chun hit fly with a rasping left-footer from 25-yards out early in the second stanza but the effort, though spectacular, went wide of the mark as Olympic fought to regain some pride. The Blues had Ozbey and Michael Cindric as stand-outs in a well beaten side on the day.
Neil Jablonksi had a fine effort saved by Emmanouil on the hour mark. The keeper did well to hold on to the ball as Boardman bore down on him; the Sharks target-man then had a goal disallowed for offside as the Sharks began looking for more goals after taking their foot off the pedal.
Olympic battled on with Matthew Mayora hitting the bar in the 80? but well beaten on the day, they could have no regrets about the result unless it was for allowing too much space and time to the Sharks in that very frenetic opening spell to the match.
It was a disappointing evening for the Blues however Olympic coach Nick Theodorakopoulos wasn?t too disappointed after the game when saying:
?We were short of players with injury and suspension but we have to learn to play the full 90-minutes. 
?We went one up early and had another two chances before they broke and we ended up 2-one down but it was that three-minute spell that cost us dearly.
?We steadied the ship at half-time and gave it a shot but it was too late so we?ll look to get the players back and focus on the next game.?
His counterpart Robbie Stanton was more worried about the slow start:
?We did start slowly and that is a worry but once we equalised I knew we would be ok. 
?We defended well, especially when they came at us in the second-half but we?ll work at being switched on from the start of the match instead of coming out to play after 5-minutes.
?I thought we played fantastically today apart from that.?
In the Grade-20 match, Sydney Olympic and Sutherland Sharks shared the spoils with the match ending goal-less.
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 1(Chris Triantis 3? (pen).)
Sutherland Sharks 4 (Panny Nikas 8?, Jim Bakis 21?, 24?, Brad Boardman 23?)
Sunday 10th May, 2009
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Referee: Gerard Parsons
Assistant Referees: Paul Fairweather and Wayne Lenardon
Fourth Official: Brendan Johansen
Sydney Olympic: 20.Sam Emmanouil; 5.Michael Cindric (3.Emmanuel Zunino 81?), 6.Emmanuel Giannaros, 7.Peter McPherson (2.Bobby Dragas 28?), 8.Paul Wither (23.Chris Cahill 63?), 11.Tolgay Ozbey, 14.Chris Triantis, 15.Matthew Mayora, 16.Jordan Simpson, 17.Iain Ramsay, 19.Ken Chun
Substitutes Not Used: 21.Nestor Tsioustas, 31.Leon Pirillo
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil  
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris, 3.Srecko Mitrovic, 4.Michael Robinson, 6.Chris Price (19.Matt Villazon 53?), 7.Jim Bakis, 8.Nathan Ralph, 9.Brad Boardman (10.Matt Hall 79?), 12.Neil Jablonski, 15.Michael Katz, 23.Panny Nikas
Substitutes Not Used:  17.Jordan Nikolovski, 21.Adam Tayebi, 18.Kyle Stuart
Yellow Cards:  Chris Price 19?, Panni Nikas 78?, Matt Villazon 89?
Red Cards:
Player Ratings:
3 ? Jim Bakis (SS)
2 ? Panny Nikas (SS)
1 – Brad Boardman (SS)
-By Micky Brock