Super sub Ozbey wins it at the death for Olympic
From the outset it was Sydney Olympic with the early chances, the side showing their want of a victory with Penrith-Nepean taking time to settle into the game.
In the 5? minute great lead-up play on the right saw Adam Biddle draw a defender into the middle, opening up space for Emmanuel Giannaros to take advantage. A beautiful whipped-in cross met the head of TeleChoice Premier League top scorer Matthew Mayora, however the striker was unlucky to see his header miss the left-hand upright.
4? minutes later, and after Mayora was brought down twenty-yards out, Iain Ramsey struck a great free-kick which rattled Matthew Nash?s cross bar. The ball then fell to Anthony Doumanis who struck the ball goal bound, only for Mark Bariamis to save on the goal-line.
Penrith-Nepean finally had their first attacking chance in the 13? minute when clever work on the left from young Dimitros Petratos saw him switch the ball to the right allowing Nick McInerney the chance to feed Greg Kondek. With Kondek through on goal on the right, a good hard shot saw Mark Bosnich go down well and save, the former Socceroo thwarting the danger.
With Penrith now open to attacking raids on the Olympic defence, it seemed as if they would take the lead.
However, Sydney Olympic hit the front on 22? minutes via a well worked team goal.
Following a poor Penrith-Nepean clearance from a corner, the ball fell to Adam Biddle who cut the ball from the right directly to the feet of Anthony Doumanis. A great turn allowed the attacking midfielder to shoot as Matthew Nash saved, however parried the ball into the path of Matthew Mayora who was on the stop to score goal number 11 for the season.
Sydney Olympic then continued their attacking raids with Emmanuel Giannaros attacking well from the right back position, giving the Blues an added attacking player down the flank.
The good work by Olympic?s attacking line began to fall flat for the former National Soccer League side as the defence began making silly mistakes and gifting Penrith great opportunities to level.
And in the 40? minute, Penrith-Nepean did just that thanks to a Ben Gough goal.
With Peter McPherson losing possession of the ball in his own half, a great early through ball caught the Olympic defence napping. Greg Kondek took the ball goal bound with the oncoming Mark Bosnich making it easy for the striker to square the ball to his captain to easily score the equaliser before half-time.
The second-half began in identical fashion to the first with Sydney Olympic coming out all guns blazing, hungry to score their second goal and take control of the game.
Matthew Mayora continued to wreak havoc upfront for Olympic after receiving a good ball by Peter McPherson, the striker saw his powerful shot just miss the right hand post in the 50? minute.
It was only two minutes later however that the striker got his second goal.
Following another poor clearance from a corner, Penrith-Nepean United allowed Sydney Olympic?s Ken Chun the chance to shoot from outside the box which deflected into the path of Mayora who stepped over the ball and place it just under Matthew Nash to give Olympic the lead for the second time in the match.
Olympic then went in search of a third goal to bury the game, however continued to fall short in the final third. A great through ball by Matthew Mayora in the 54? minute released Peter Zorbas down the line. The experienced midfielder took the space and cut the ball back to a free Adam Biddle who saw his shot well blocked by the Penrith-Nepean defence.
In the 62? minute Olympic again were unlucky to not extend the lead as Doumanis had a great run down the right-hand side, however was let down by a poor shot straight into the arms of the waiting Matthew Nash.
The visitors then began playing a counter-attacking style of football allowing Olympic the chance to increase their number in attack, however leaving gaps in the defence when losing the ball.
In the 64? minute Penrith-Nepean thought they had equalised after Devrim Huseyin put a quick through ball for Ben Gough who easily netted. However, his celebration was short lived as the linesman called the offside late, much to the relief of the Sydney Olympic faithful at Belmore Sports Ground.
However, Penrith-Nepean had everything to cheer about in the 69? minute as a well-weighted free-kick by Dimitrios Petratos put pressure on the Olympic defence and saw Michael Cindric unluckily put the ball into the back of his own net.
With the substitutions raining in – much like the climatic conditions at Belmore – both teams turned to long-range shooting in the final 20? minutes of the match.
However, Sydney Olympic began moving the ball around much better in the final 5? minutes creating many chances for the home-side.
With 3? minutes of injury-time awarded, the Olympic faithful began leaving their seats looking miserable after another week without a win.
Sadly for those who left early, in the final kick of the game, super sub Tolgay Ozbey unleashed a bullet header to give Olympic the 3-2 win.
Following the game, a disappointed Ante Juric believed Penrith-Nepean could have done better to secure at least a draw:
?I think we were competitive, it didn?t help that we gave away three goals. I mean you?re not going to win games if you give away goals but it was competitive and maybe a draw would?ve been fair.
?I thought we were solid apart from the three goals which were scrappy, and we are looking forward to our mid week game against Marconi.?
Sydney Olympic striker Matthew Mayora believed his team had won the game prior to the ball even being kicked:
?I think we had won the game before we got onto the park. You could see it in the dressing room on the boys? faces, we were just very mentally prepared and confident in each other.
? We?ll now go to Cromer Park next week to face Manly United and play for the win and hopefully get back into the top five where we belong,? Mayora concluded.
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 3 (Matthew Mayora 20?, 52?, Tolgay Ozbey 90?+3?)
Penrith-Nepean United 2 (Ben Gough 40?, Michael Cindric 69? o.g)
Sunday, 21st June, 2009
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Referee: Gerard Parsons
Assistant Referees: Murray Wilson, Christian Mehl
Sydney Olympic: 13.Mark Bosnich; 3.Emmanuel Zunino (19.Ken Chun 40?), 4.Mirko Jurijl, 5.Michael Cindric, 6.Emmanuel Giannaros, 7.Peter McPherson, 10.Anthony Doumanis (14.Chris Triantis 67?), 15.Matthew Mayora, 17.Iain Ramsey, 18.Adam Biddle, 22.Peter Zorbas (C) (11.Tolgay Ozbey 78?)
Substitutions Not Used: 8.Paul Wither, 1.Zaim Zeneli (GK)
Yellow Cards: Adam Biddle 77?
Red Cards: Nil
Penrith-Nepean United: 1.Matthew Nash; 2.Mark Bariamis, 3.David Comito, 4.Evangelos Petratos, 8.Paul Crisp, 10.Ben Gough (C), 11.Dimitrios Petratos, 12.Nicholas McInerney (20.Trent Barton 64?), 14.Greg Kondek (15.Sean Mitchell 85?), 17.Ante Juric, 23.Devrim Huseyin
Substitutions Not Used: 21.Nik Jelic (GK), 7.Matthew Liddal
Yellow Cards: Paul Crisp 29?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Chris Georgakopoulos
