Wollongong and Sydney Olympic share the points in tough conditions

In a game of few chances Wollongong?s Alex Augusto upstaged the master.
Unlike the first meeting between these two teams at Belmore which was a veritable goal fest; this encounter turned out to be a highly tactical affair by two sides chasing points for very different reasons.
Wollongong had the better of the early exchanges with Ballamadou Conde and Brendan Kearns taking early control of the midfield and orchestrating some crisp and incisive passing movements.
Mirko Jurilj was strong at the back for Olympic, giving good protection to Mark Bosnich in the early minutes of the game.
On 10? minutes, a cross into the Olympic box was only half-cleared and Wollongong captain Steve Hayes let fly with a rasping volley from 25-yards out. Bosnich took off to his right, managed to palm the shot away and be first to the loose ball despite the close attention of Wollongong?s James Monie.
Moments later a hurried back pass left Bosnich vulnerable as Hayes bore down on him. Showing all his confidence the former Socceroos goalkeeper feinted right, sold Hayes the dummy and just managed to clear before being tackled by Hayes. The crowd gave an ironic cheer but Bosnich, not to be outdone, waved to the crowd to acknowledge that they were still alive.
10? minutes later the Olympic shot-stopper was not laughing as a miscued clearance left him and his defence hopelessly exposed. Monie was quickest to react chasing what looked like a corner ball and somehow managing to hook the ball over the stranded ?keeper and onto the head of Hayes at the back post who couldn?t miss from a yard out. 1-0 Wollongong.
Sydney Olympic were stunned and following the goal Wollongong lifted noticeably. Bosnich was busy although not troubled for the next 10? minutes. Hayes, Kearns and Conde all had shots that missed the target. Kearns was unlucky not to get on the end of a very cute angled through ball from Lachlan Cahill despite a desperate lunge at the back post.
On a rare foray up field Olympic won a corner on their right. Paul Wither got up highest and directed a powerful header on target which Alex Augusto not only got down to but held to pull off an excellent save.
Wollongong hit back almost immediately, some neat build up work down the left by Kieran Deane and Cahill released Monie whose cross appeared to deflect off an Olympic defender and was buried into the Olympic net by the ever dangerous Hayes but his celebrations were cut short by the assistant referees on the far side who had his flag raised for an offside.
This was to be the turning point in the game. Olympic battled hard to match the Wollongong midfield with Peter Zorbas, Chris Triantis and Anthony Doumanis starting to see more of the ball.
On 38? minutes the Wollongong defence hesitated and allowed a long clearance from Bosnich to bounce, Matthew Mayora was first to the ball and found himself clear through on goal 16-yards out. His low drive left Augusto no chance and the ball nestled in the back of the Wollongong net ? 1-1.
5? minutes later Augusto was called into action again this time to rise high through a crowd of players to punch clear a cross from the right.
The sides went in on level terms at the break with Wollongong shading the first-half.
On a difficult pitch, the second-half became a battle of wills and neither team shied away from the challenge.
The game became far more compact with both sides trying to pass their way through to goal. In a half of few chances Olympic can feel unlucky not to have scored again.
On 62? minutes a corner from the right was headed clear to Doumanis who set himself, got perfect body shape and launched a fantastic rising, swerving volley that looked for all money a goal until Augusto somehow managed to get up into the top far corner of his goal and beat the ball out over his bar for a corner, to the gasps of astonishment and applause from the crowd.
Moments later Doumanis tried his luck again from an almost identical position but saw his effort fly high and wide.
Olympic nearly nicked it in the 74? minute when Emmanuel Zunino saw his diving header from 12-yards crash back off the Wollongong upright and cleared to safety.
In a match that see-sawed Wollongong could easily have grabbed the points late on through two chances that fell to Ilija Prenzoski but he could only draw regulation saves from Bosnich.
Nick Theodorakopoulos summed it up well when he said:
?It was a battle out there. I told the boys to batter them and they did. It was hard for both sides on that pitch and we knew we had to fight. I asked them to raise their intensity at half time and they did. We wanted the points and are disappointed not to get them.?
WCFC boss Glenn Fontana said:
?Of course we are disappointed; we had the ball in their net twice but still only end up with a point. Their goal came from an error but I am not going to criticise our defence as we effectively snuffed out the most dangerous striker in this league fairly easily overall. Recent performances have been heartening and were worth a win today.?
Sydney Olympic goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, who generously stayed behind to be photographed and sign autographs for fans was very positive about his comeback and the TeleChoice Premier League.
?It feels good to be back and I am enjoying my football. It is important to be motivated and I am. That was a difficult pitch to play on and it is a great testament to the 20 outfield players who played some great football in difficult conditions. The standard of football in Australia has come a long way since I started playing here as a kid. It reminds me of the lower leagues in England now.
“I thought Steve Hayes, who I trained with at Sydney FC had a great game he was very dangerous every time he got the ball. I was also very impressed with Alex Augusto the Wollongong goalkeeper; he was very good throughout and made one truly exceptional save.  I would tell any youngsters who want to succeed that you must have self belief and discipline yourself to always be motivated to work hard.?
Match Stats
Wollongong Community FC 1 (Steve Hayes 22?)
Sydney Olympic 1 (Matthew Mayora 38?)
Sunday, 14th of June, 2009
Macedonia Park, Berkely
Referee: Sandro Perticarini
Assistant Referees: Matthew Colqhuin & Brett Woodford
Fourth Official: Mitchell Seaborn
Crowd: 850
Wollongong Community FC: 1.Alex Augusto; 2.Kieran Deane, 13.Ben Bronneberg, 5.David Able, 15. James Lawrence (6.Ilija Prenzoski  75?), 9.Steve Hayes, 10.Balla Conde (18.Brian Vanega 66?), 12.Brendan Kearns, 16.James Vaughan, 11.James Monie, 19.Lachlan Cahill
Substitutes Not Used: 14.Corey Gamiero, 7. Corey Horner, 20.Matt Brandalise,
Yellow Cards: Brendan Kearns 81?
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 13.Mark Bosnich; 3.Emmanuel Zunino, 4.Mirko Jurijl, 5.Michael Cindric, 6.Emmanuel Giannaros (17. Iain Ramsay 88?), 7.Peter McPherson (10.Anthony Doumanis 45?), 8.Paul Wither (19.Ken Chun 76?), 14.Chris Triantis, 15.Matthew Mayora, 18.Adam Biddle, 22.Peter Zorbas (C)
Substitutes Not Used: 16.Jordan Simpson, 1.Zain Zanelli.
Yellow Cards: Peter Zorbas
Red Cards: Nil
-By David Wallace