Sydney United crowned TeleChoice Championship Grade 20 Grand Final winners
Goals to Daniel Rezo and Dennis Cutura secured the victory, giving United their only piece of silverware for season 2009.
The game began with great ball movement as both teams tried to outdo each other in the centre of the park.
The first chance of the match fell to Sydney Olympic as in the 8th minute a soft pass by Sydney United captain Steve Wright across goal was intercepted by Leon Perillo who was through on goal however tackled at the last minute.
Sydney Olympic then began dictating play with Anthony Perri and Steven Tibbetts controlling the midfield.
In the 13th minute, great work by Mitchell Stamatellis? great work down the right hand touchline released Peter Triantis, who made a difficult cross look easy falling to the oncoming Perillo who unfortunately sent his first time shot well over the bar in a clear first cut chance for Olympic.
Three minutes later and a Sydney United counter attack allowed former Central Coast Mariners youth player and Perth Glory bound Grade 20s player Glen Trifiro to win a corner.
From the resulting corner however, Trifiro?s well struck corner went straight to Wright however his poor header went into the stands and well away from goal.
Sydney United continued their counter attacking style of football, and created a great chance in the 21st minute.
After Dennis Cutura beat the offside trap and came one on one on goal with Zaim Zanelli in goals for Olympic, Cutura?s shot was saved by the legs of Zanelli however the ball trickled behind him goal bound. Luckily for Olympic, Daniel Firth had sprinted back to clear off the line to keep the scores level.
However, with Sydney Olympic taking over the majority of possession playing the ball around the pitch in great fashion they took the lead in the 34th minute.
Perri won the ball in the centre circle for Olympic going on an attacking run but being brought down about 22 yards out in definite shooting range for the team from Belmore.
From the resulting free kick. Steven Biason struck a powerful shot which deflected of a Sydney United defender with goalkeeper Ryan Norvall getting a soft touch on the ball and not being able to stop the ball from hitting the back of the net.
As quickly as Sydney Olympic took the lead, Sydney United had the equaliser.
From the kick off, a quick passage of attacking play had Trifiro on the ball in the box who was chopped down from behind by Tibbetts with the referee pointing to the spot for United.
Rezo stepped up and sent Zanelli the wrong way and provided the equaliser in the 35th minute to lead the teams into the break at 1-1.
The second half began with Sydney United starting the stronger of the two sides, with quick short passes confusing the Sydney Olympic defence.
Ten minutes into the second half however, Sydney Olympic again began finding their bearings, with Perri dropping into the midfield and regaining possession, going on a number of darting runs continuously threatening the Sydney United defence.
United were then forced to try long balls to undo Sydney Olympic?s defence and their plan began working.
In the 58th minute, a great long ball from the back by Jeff Forrest allowed Trifiro to get a touch on the ball in the air releasing Tomic on goal, however the wide player blasted his shot wide of the mark.
As they game continued to gain momentum, Perri again won the ball in his own half going for a darting run into Sydney United?s half.
After beating four defenders, Perri passed the ball to Sydney FC bound Tibbetts who played a one-two back to Perri. The definitive midfielder decided to shoot after a great first touch, however the ball went directly into the chest of the waiting Norvall.
Sydney United then went to their bench with Trifiro making way for Jani Bajramovic in the 63rd minute.
The change in personnel for United definitely made a difference as in only two minutes United took the lead.
With Steven Veleski on the ball just outside the box, he beat his defender and got around Zanelli. Taking the ball away from goal however, Veleski crossed the ball across the goal with the waiting Cutura there to head home as Sydney Olympic?s defence scrambled to try and save the goal.
United could have doubled their lead in the 67th minute as a great corner met the head of one of their unmarked attackers however bounced wide of the goal as Zanelli went off at his defence.
With 20 minutes to go, Sydney United some what went into a defensive mode allowing continuous attacking raids to come for Olympic who could not capitalise on their chances to equalise the game.
Olympic?s best chance to equalise fell to Perri in the 87th minute, who was having a great game for his team.
A counter attack released Perri on the left hand side inside the box, as he opened up his body well his curling shot went just over the top right corner to the groans of the vocal crowd.
Olympic and coach Pat Marando could not find the equaliser and fell victim to their second grand final loss in two seasons.
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 1 (Steve Biason 34?)
Sydney United 2 (Daniel Rezo 35?, Dennis Cutura 65?)
Sydney Olympic : 1. Zaim Zanelli (gk), 25. Daniel Firth, 29. Steven Biason, 30. Mitchell Stamatellis (45. Ben Jurman 69?), 31. Leon Perillo (26. Goran Orlovic 87?), 33. Jerry Kalouris, 34. Anthony Perri, 35. Steven Tibbetts (24. Andrew Yiannatzi 69?) 38. Scott Madden, 39. Peter Triantis, 42. Luke Gearin
Substitutions Not Used: 41. James Cain, 48. Ben Ristevski
Yellow Cards:
Red Cards:
Sydney United: 1. Ryan Norvall (gk), 18. Glen Trifiro ( 39. Jani Bajramovic 63?), 22. Daniel Rezo, 25. Dennis Cutura( 33. Kyle Ewart76?) , 27. Aaron Sim, 31. Steve Wright, 32. Ante Tomic (37. Logan Zeschke 82?), 35. Jeff Forrest, 36. Mitchell Spear, 41. Jurica Grlic, 42. Steven Veleski
Substitutions Not Used: 28. Anthony Avati, 29. Dario Borovickic
Yellow Cards: Tomic 43?, Cutura 67?, Zeschke 93?
Red Cards:
Player Ratings:
3- Anthony Perri (SO)
2- Steven Veleski (SU)
1- Leon Perillo (SO)
-By Chris Georgakopoulos
