Olympic continue winning streak with victory at Wollongong
The Blues dominated the early stages of the match, winning a number of corners as South Coast Wolves struggled to keep possession of the ball.
Sydney Olympic played a three-pronged attacking formation which was stretching the South Coast defence. Matthew Mayora, William Angel and Chris Triantis were combining well and relishing the added support from having three up front.
Michael Robinson and Jacob Timpano held the South Coast defence together and the Sydney Olympic early pressure never really resulted into any clear cut chances.
Peter Simonovski looked brightest for South Coast, racing down the left hand wing before going close to opening the scoring on 34? minutes – his shot fired into the side netting.
Sydney Olympic had their best chance of the first-half when Phil Makrys laid a pass across South Coasts? six-yard box, unfortunately for Olympic no one was there to score.
South Coast Wolves worked hard to get themselves back into the match, and in the last 5? minutes of the opening half they showed signs of form. However, in the last minute Sydney Olympic had two very good chances to score, Chris Triantis and Emmanuel Giannaros both went through one-on-one with the goalkeeper, however Daniel Collison proved up to the task denying the Blues on both occasions.
At half-time, the 0-0 score line well represented the match, with Sydney Olympic looking like slight favourites heading into the second period.
The second 45? minutes started with both teams struggling to keep possession of the ball in the windy conditions.
Sydney Olympic almost threw all of their good work out the window when they gave the ball away on 50? minutes and Sasho Petrovski?s resulting cross almost lead to Ibrahim Haydar putting the ball into the back of his own net.
On 58? minutes Nick Littler brought down Chris Triantis inside box and the referee pointed straight to the penalty spot. Sydney Olympic captain Phil Makrys, who missed a penalty against Blacktown City FC last weekend, stepped up to take the spot-kick and drove a well-taken shot into the top right-hand corner.
South Coast rallied after the restart to get an equaliser, Petrovski and Mark Picciolini had a few chances to create but their passes were lacking the conviction of previous weeks.
The visitors continued to press forward, often leaving only two defenders back in position. They were creating a number of half chances as they searched for the security of a two goal advantage. However, this tactic seemed a dangerous option against the counter-attacking prowess of South Coast Wolves.
On 82? minutes Sydney Olympic goalkeeper Paul Henderson miss-kicked his clearance, the ball rebounded to Fabian Iacovelli who passed to Picciolini on the edge of the six-yard box. With a defender on his back, Picciolini swivelled and shot straight at the shot-stopper, ending what looked like a certain equalising move.
In the last act of defiance from South Coast Wolves, Petrovski went for a long drive from 25-meters out but his shot sailed over the crossbar. A minute later the whistle blew and the three points went to Sydney Olympic who were slightly better on the night.
South Coast coach Trevor Morgan was philosophical after the match:
?I guess we need these tough games and these stressful situations for the boys to mature, they were more mature than us.
?In a tough game where it was important they showed more maturity than us and we need to learn from this experience.?
Sydney Olympic midfielder David Gullo said his team was very satisfied with the result:
?It?s always difficult to come down to Wollongong, especially when they play good possession.
?Overall we?re very happy with the result. We wanted to press them up high and not let them play out, which they love to do.?
Match Stats
South Coast Wolves 0
Sydney Olympic 1 (Phil Makrys 58? pen)
Saturday 11th August, 2012
John Crehan Park, Wollongong
Referee: Alex Glasgow
Assistant Referees: Craig Fisher and Nathan Wotton
Fourth Official: Nathan Roberts
South Coast Wolves: 1.Daniel Collison; 2.Jack Keating, 3.Mitchell Del Turco, 4.Michael Robinson (11.John Martinoski 57?), 6.Nick Littler, 10.Sasho Petrovski, 13.Peter Simonovski (14.Fabian Iacovelli 77?), 9.Mark Picciolini, 12.Joseph Lavalle (7.Cameron Littler 71?), 8.Dusan Kalonja, 26.Jacob Timpano.
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Hayden Durose, 5.Hayden Lloyd
Yellow Cards: Mark Picciolini 61?, Jacob Timpano 73?
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 3.Brett Studman, 21.Marton Vass, 10.Chris Triantis (15.Zac Elrich 65?), 12.Troy Danaskos, 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 11.William Angel (19.David Gullo 75?), 4.Ibrahim Haydar, 24.Matthew Mayora (17.Kutaiba Elrich 60?), 8.Peter Triantis, 7.Phil Makrys (C)
Substitutes Not Used: 14.Sam Awad, 32.Luke Kairies
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
-By Josh Watt
