Smith hat-trick buries South Coast Wolves

A pre-match downpour created slippery conditions for the players, providing spectators with a scrappy encounter that produced a second-half hat-trick as both sides were reduced to ten men.
Olympic’s new recruit and 2010 NSW Super League Player of the Year, Alex Smith, netted an impressive triple after the interval for Sydney Olympic, who had David Gullo sent off in the second-half after Wolves? Samet Kaynak was dismissed midway through the first period.
Both sides opted to attack from the outset, with calls for a penalty correctly waved away by referee Alex Glasgow after Chris Triantis? shot inadvertently struck the arm of a Wolves defender.
Lawrence Drake fired over for the Wolves shortly after when the visitors failed to clear an early Kaynak corner.
5? minutes into his competitive debut, Sasho Petrovski provided an early display of his A-League experience, twice turning Jerry Kalouris inside-out on the right wing before floating a cross onto the crossbar, much to the relief of Paul Henderson who was left stranded at his front post in the Sydney Olympic goal.
Hussein Akil played a smart one-two with Smith to put himself one-on-one with Brody Crane, but the Wolves? shot-stopper was quick off his line to close down the angle and block Akil?s shot.
Crane was again on hand on 10? minutes to block Smith?s shot after a swift Sydney Olympic counterattack threatened to break the deadlock.
A David Gullo free-kick from the left wing caused great confusion in the Wolves? box on 19? minutes. The ensuing goalmouth scramble had Crane beaten, however Dave Abel was on hand to head the ball off the goal line and keep the visitors at bay once again.
The Wolves? next attack saw Kaynak classily bring down a long ball, deceive his marker with a quick shimmy before firing a 20-yard strike straight at Henderson.
Kaynak?s moment of near magic was forgotten soon after when a scuffle with Gullo on 22? minutes saw him dismissed for a second bookable offence, having been both warned and yellow carded on separate occasions shortly beforehand. Gullo was also yellow carded for his involvement.
With their man advantage, Sydney Olympic piled on the pressure but Akil, Smith, and Triantis were all unable to find a way past Crane.
Petrovski came close to scoring against the run of play, firstly with a deflected free-kick on the half hour, before stealing the ball from the Sydney Olympic defence seconds later and striking the base of the far post under intense pressure from the recovering defenders.
Crane was again the hero late in the first-half when he blocked Robert Mileski?s shot to ensure the sides went in to the interval all square.
Despite Cranes?s best efforts, Sydney Olympic did not take long to break the deadlock in the second-half when David Gullo?s cross picked out an unmarked Alex Smith who volleyed his side into the lead seconds after the resumption of play.
The skies then immediately let loose on John Crehan Park; a heavy downpour ensuring an unpleasant remainder to the afternoon for the Wolves? faithful fan base.
Mileski went close to extending their advantage soon after, first striking the post from a tight angle before Crane twice denied him with impressive saves to keep the Wolves in the match.
Nick Littler forced a defensive error from Kalouris on the hour; winning the ball and driving a low cross into the 6-yard box only for Petrovski to fire over the crossbar.
The visiting Blues were forced to play the final 20? minutes playing with ten men when Gullo?s dissent earned him a second yellow card, relinquishing his side?s numerical advantage.
With even numbers Wolves began to regather their rhythm until a backline error from Jacob Timpano on 79? minutes allowed Smith to steal the ball and chip Crane to ensure Sydney Olympic would take all three-points.
Smith then secured his hat-trick in the closing stages of the match, curling a spectacular free-kick into the top corner, capping off a fine afternoon for himself and his team.
Substitute Todd Bamber should have grabbed a fourth for Sydney Olympic in added time as he beat Crane to a long ball, however he placed his header wide of goal to spare the Wolves further blushes.
Sydney Olympic coach Peter Tsekenis was understandably happy with the result, despite failing to use their man advantage in the first-half:
?I thought we probably should have wrapped the game up earlier but the boys kept ticking away,? said Tsekenis.
?We stuck to our task and got the three goals we deserved.?
Tsekenis was also notably happy with hat-trick hero Alex Smith, also conceding that he now faces the task of trying to hold onto his player:
?I think he?s a great player, he showed a lot of potential,? said Tsekenis.
?He had a patchy pre-season but the quality has always been there.?
Coach Trevor Morgan was disappointed with South Coast Wolves? start to the 2011 campaign:
?We have very high ambitions this year,? said Morgan.
?Today we didn?t do a lot of the simple things we need to do.
?They had more chances than us in the first 15? minutes comfortably, but apart from that there were three or four that could have dropped for Sash (Petrovski) that didn?t quite come.
?So the reality is you can win or lose any weekend no matter how good your squad is.?
Morgan refused to point the finger at Kaynak?s early dismissal, declaring that their loss was attributed to Olympic?s performance and avoidable mistakes:
?I don?t know if it cost us the game (Kaynak?s red card), but it certainly made it difficult,? said Morgan.
?Full credit to Olympic, their finishing was good.
?To be fair the second goal comes from an error and the third was a great finish from the set piece, but again, avoidable,? Morgan concluded.
In the afternoon?s early fixture South Coast Wolves defeated nine-man Sydney Olympic 2-0 in the Grade-20 division.
Match Stats
South Coast Wolves 0
Sydney Olympic 3 (Alex Smith 46?, 79?, 90?)
Sunday March 27th, 2011
John Crehan Park, Cringila
Referee: Alex Glasgow
Assistant Referees: Steven Nguyen and Nathan Wotton
Fourth Official: Adam Susz
Crowd: 200 Approx.
South Coast Wolves: 1.Brody Crane; 5.Nick Littler, 3.Dave Abel, 4.Jacob Timpano, 2.Alex Mansueto, 6.Lawrence Drake, 7.Samet Kaynak, 8.Andres Gomez, 9.Mark Picciolini (14.Cam Littler 81?), 10.Sasho Petrovski, 11.Chris Nathaniel (15.Peter Simonovski 75?)
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Jake Duczynski, 13.Stephen Paric, 20.Hayden Durose
Yellow Cards: Samet Kaynak 16?
Red Cards: Samet Kaynak 22?
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 4.Ibrahim Haydar, 6.Alex Smith, 8.Chris Triantis (15.Tod Bamber 84?), 9.Hussein Akil, 11.Robert Mileski (14.William Angel 75?), 12.Bill Tsandis, 16.Peter Triantis, 18.Jerry Kalouris (34.Brad Di Salvo 71?), 19.David Gullo
Substitutes Not Used: 21.Nenad Vekic, 27.T Danaskos
Yellow Cards: David Gullo 22?, Chris Triantis 56?, Jerry Kalouris 63?, Sasho Petrovski 80?
Red Cards: David Gullo 69?
Player Ratings:
3 – Alex Amith (SO)
2 – Brody Crane (SCW)
1 – Bill Tsandis (SO)
-By Michael Shoolman