Tigers continue their winning ways over Sydney Olympic

The win over Manly United FC, when added to the win over Sutherland Sharks which was played ironically at the same venue – Belmore Sports Ground – when Leichhardt Oval became unavailable last Sunday due to rugby league commitments, meant that the visitors from downtown Leichhardt arrived all bright eyed and bushy tailed to take on the home-side in blue and white.
Thanks to a brace in the second-half by Robert Younis, who had his scoring boots on, the Tigers were able to continue on their merry, winning ways.
?He?s a very capable player,? said A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt?s senior official Emanuele Ziino, in reference to Younis when asked about his striker after the game. ?Today he scored twice for us and he showed what he can do.?
In the 8? minute, after some sustained pressure by the visitors, a pinpoint accurate cross from the right by Nick Rizzo found Younis in the penalty-area lurking with intent but his header was marginally over the crossbar.
Only a few minutes later it was A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt who came close to scoring again when Mark Byrnes delivered a nice ball to Younis, but his diagonal shot crossed the face of the goal before ending up wide of the goal without troubling the goalkeeper.
In the 13? minute, Sydney Olympic had their best chance of the game. Chris Triantis danced beautifully into the box past two defenders, only to force Matthew Mash into a wonderful diving save to turn the ball wide for a corner.
From the ensuing corner taken by Triantis himself, it was Jerry Kalouris rising up on the far post to head the ball against the upright of the goal.
Midway through the first stanza of play a majestic cross from Dimitrios Petratos on the right made its way to Matthew Mayora in the centre of the box, but his header was blasted onto the crossbar much to the relief of the A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt defence.
In the 41? minute Triantis made a lovely run into the box, but when he went to ground too easily under pressure from John Kelso, the referee decided that it was a yellow card for the Olympic player for simulation rather than a penalty just like the home crowd had been asking for.
It was to be the only booking of the game which is a credit to both sides who demonstrated fair play throughout.
In the 43? minute a cross from the left found Rizzo unmarked in a very central position but his shot was wonderfully tipped over the crossbar by an ever alert Paul Henderson.
In the second-half, after a lacklustre beginning, A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt scored twice in the space of only a few minutes.
The first goal came when the visitors showed some nice touches down the left side, before Franco Parisi cut the ball back from the by-line for Younis who simply couldn?t miss from close-range.
The second goal came when Hirofumi Moriyasu placed the ball into the box only for the Olympic defence to make a meal of the situation and Younis, one again in the right place at the right time, fired the ball past Henderson like an alert striker should do.
?They?ve got Parisi and Younis up front who are very experienced,? said Sydney Olympic?s new coach, former Socceroo defender Steve O?Connor when questioned about conceding the goals.
?They [A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt] just caught us out a little with some combination play. We came forward and they played in behind our defenders twice and Rockdale did that to us the week before.
?We need a little of experience with our defenders because sometimes you need to drop back rather than come forward because you can get caught out coming forward.?
Younis could have made it three in the 69? minute but blasted over the crossbar after some nice lead-up work from Rizzo.
Late in the game Petratos, one of the better players for Sydney Olympic, twice blasted away from outside the box but to no avail thanks to a Nash save and then missing the intended target.
?It?s a very good win for the boys to get three in a row,? said Emanuele Ziino. ?It has been a hard week for us at A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt with the game against Sutherland and then the midweek game against Manly, but we are here today with a positive result.
?In the first-half you could say that we were a bit lethargic and that?s possibly because of the heavy legs after those two games, so today was a good win after all that.
?The team spirit here at A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt is very good. Everyone is happy and it has been a great team effort this week from all the players who gave it their all, all the coaching staff and in particular from Billy McColl and Tony Raciti.?
Steve O?Connor on the other side of the fence acknowledged that the first-half was very tight but that Sydney Olympic seemed to fall away after A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt?s two goals.
?It was a very tight game today in the first-half,? he said. ?We created a few chances, but we had a few players coming back from injury and another few were a bit short of a gallop.
?In the first-half we did well. We frustrated them up front but in the second half we ran out of steam a little bit.
?We sort of died a little bit after the goals and perhaps we could have showed a little bit more, but unfortunately they [A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt] got on top of us.?
O?Connor, a Socceroo defender of note, has coached at the AIS in Canberra and in the lower ranks of Sydney FC in the A-League.
The obvious question was to find out why he had chosen Sydney Olympic in the NSW Premier League to further his coaching career?
?It?s a good coaching job and there are not that many jobs around in the A-League,? he stated.
?I was looking to do some coaching, which I have done for a fair while, so this is what is available at the moment.
?I am enjoying working away with the players and we are starting to get a few bodies back after injury and I?ll see how we go. Hopefully I am here for a while.?
Meanwhile, in the Grade 20s division Sydney Olympic defeated A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers 1-0.
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 0
A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers 2     (Robert Younis 59?, 65?)
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Referee: Peter Vrtkovski
Assistant Referees: Nick Backo and L. Corey
Fourth Official: Leigh Pigram
Sydney Olympic: 13.Paul Henderson; 23.Luke Gearin, 38.William Darwich, 24.Mitchell Stamatellis, 8.Chris Triantis (10.Anthony Doumanis 84?), 6.Dimitrios Petratos (27.David Cain 87?), 17.Iain Ramsay, 18.Jerry Kalouris, 33.Nick Tsattalios, 15.Matthew Mayora, 9.James Monie (28.Alan Kovacevic 78?).
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Zaim Zanelli, 12.Daniel Zeleny
Yellow Cards: Triantis 41?
Red Cards: Nil
A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers: 1.Matthew Nash; 2.Mark Byrnes, 3.John Kelso, 5.Michael West, 7.Stephen Kayes (18.Bishara Stephan 84?), 19.Danial Cummins, 8.Anthony Hartshorn, 11.Nick Rizzo, 16.Hirofuni Moriyasu, 9.Robert Younis 10.Franco Parisi.
Substitutes Not Used: 40.Terry Dal Broi, 20.Liam McConaghy, 12.Andrew Vitucci, 4.Nathan Milgate
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
-By Joe Russo