Wasteful Manly denied win by Sydney Olympic
Craig Midgley’s men played their opponents off the park in the first 45? minutes, but only beat Paul Henderson once.
Matt Sim opened the scoring with a well taken goal on 22′ minutes. Bursting onto a through ball from Adam Foti, the wingback unleashed a fearsome shot from the edge of the area that sailed into the bottom corner.
Apart from his goal assist, Foti had a game to forget. 2′ minutes in he found himself with only Henderson to beat, but shot straight at the veteran gloveman.
On the half hour mark he only had the Central Coast Mariners understudy to pass from eight yards, but shot wide of the target.
Busy midfielder Scott Balderson almost opened his 2011 account after 5′ minutes, but could only manage a weak effort from the edge of the box.
In the second-half, Sydney Olympic were a different team. Their urgency was obvious, and after 65′ minutes they equalised. A Phil Makrys free-kick was sent to the far post where giant defender Richard Luksic bundled the ball home.
Sensing Manly were about to drop their bundle, Sydney Olympic pushed for a winner. But it was the home side who had the best chance to win the game after 80′ minutes.
Substitute Colin Iley controlled a ball at the far post and rifled it goalwards, but lacked the composure to keep it under the crossbar.
Sydney Olympic coach Peter Tsekenis was happy to take a point:
“I would have felt guilty if we won,” he said.
“We were very poor in the first-half and I told the boys things had to change.
“To their credit they came out after the break and were much better.
“In the end we could have stolen it, but a draw is a good result.
“It was our fourth game away from home, we can improve in quite a few areas.?
His opposite Craig Midgley referred to his squad as ?draw specialists? of the NSW Premier League:
“I am disappointed overall, four (draws) in a row is unbelievable,” he said.
“We created plenty of chances but weren’t ruthless in front of goal.
“We knew Olympic would have spells in the game, in the end we weren’t good enough to hold them out.”
In the Grade-20 clash, an injury time goal from Manly’s Cameron Tew engineered a thrilling 4-3 victory against Sydney Olympic.
Match Stats
Manly United FC 1 (Matt Sim 22′)
Sydney Olympic 1 (Richard Luksic 65′)
Sunday April 17th, 2011
Cromer Park, Dee Why West
Referee: Khodr Yaghi
Manly United FC: 1.Kang Ho Lee; 2.Jimmy Oates, 4. Graeme Forbes, 5.Marc Richards, 6.Michael Daly, (14.Seung Soo Lee 72) 7.Scott Balderson, (25.Jordie Edwards 25′) 8.David Dodd, 9.Robbie Cattanach, (18.Colin Iley 72′)10.Adam Foti, 17.Matt Sim, 21.Joey Gibbs
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Mitch Macedo, 22.Tonu Liiband
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 3.Brett Studman, 4.Ibrahim Haydar, (18.Jerry Kalouris 73′) 5.Richard Luksic, 6.Alex Smith, 7.Phil Makrys, 8.Chris Triantis, 9.Husky Akil,(14.Will Angel 25′) 16.Peter Triantis, 19.David Gullo (23. Takayami Omi 79′)
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Bill Tsanidis, 21.Nenad Vekic
Yellow Cards: Chris Triantis 32?, Jerry Kalouris 78′
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Matt Sim (MUFC)
2 – Scott Balderson (MUFC)
1 – Paul Henderson (SO)
