Sharks rally to upset Sydney Olympic on Belmore return
The Sharks sealed the win after twice coming from behind as Blues captain Phil Makrys twice found the net to give ten-man Sydney Olympic the lead.
Will Angel should have put the home side ahead in the first 30?? seconds of the match when Nathan Denham and George Souris combined to gift the Olympic striker the ball to round the goalkeeper and fire horribly wide of an open goal.
Souris made amends when heading away for a corner from a free-kick moments later as the visitors were under heavy pressure as Sydney Olympic continued to press.
The pressure told when Phil Makrys weaved his way through traffic and slid the ball past Denham just inside the post to give Sydney Olympic the lead on 10? minutes, and it wasn?t long before controversy arose when Peter Triantis was shown a straight red card for a heavy tackle on Hayden Morton 2? minutes later.
Kutaiba Elrich took a swirling free-kick that had Denham quickly down to his right after adjusting sharply as the home side, down to ten men, continued to attack and play the better football.
A procession of free-kicks around the Sharks area maintained the stranglehold Olympic were applying however the stop-start nature of the game had the fans somewhat less than impressed as they emphatically voiced their disapproval. Slowly but surely the Sharks clawed their way into the game and had Paul Henderson paying close attention to his near post, and down to stop another opportunity, in quick succession.
Nick Stavroulakis, back from suspension for Sutherland, was greeted to a barrage of boos when getting forward and firing wide in the 32? minute, something that was more likely to spur him on than hinder his performance. The home supporters went deathly silent less than 60?? seconds later when the Sharks were awarded a free-kick of their own that Panni Nikas put away from 30-yards out with some aplomb to level the scores.
Nikas was not as close in the 40? minute when closer to goal, this time sending the free-kick well wide of the mark as the tiring legs of Olympic were finding the going hard.
Sydney Olympic were still able to fashion chances, albeit infrequently and more often than not from free-kicks that made the match a very stop-start affair with niggly fouls aplenty around the box of both as they went to the break all tied up at 1-1.
The stop-start nature of the game continued immediately upon the resumption with yet further free-kicks being awarded which somewhat detracted from the spectacle as it allowed neither to settle into any kind of rhythm to produce the flowing football both are capable of
In the 56? minute the home side looked to have a good appeal for a penalty turned down, inciting the crowd to a raucous crescendo of noise shortly after referee Strebre Delovski had called both captains together for a talking to.
The home side would get their penalty when Souris brought down Kutaiba Elrich in the box shortly after.
Makrys needed two attempts to put the ball away after Denham saved the initial effort but the ten-men of Sydney Olympic were back in front once more, and looking dangerous.
Denham was forced to save point-blank as Olympic exploited their pace and gaps at the back as Sutherland pressed forward in search of another equaliser, the Sharks custodian becoming increasingly exposed to the counterattack.
Kutaiba Elrich pulled the ball back for brother Zak when beating the offside trap in the 77? minute but the weak shot was easily dealt with by Denham when the result should have been put beyond doubt.
Sutherland continued to push forward and parity should have been restored when Matt Bailey was found alone in the box soon after. The Sharks player however fired high over Paul Henderson?s crossbar, much to the relief of the home supporters.
Sam Awad was introduced for Olympic against one of his former clubs with 8? minutes left and in coincided with a centre from the right for Matt Bailey to steer home past the hapless Henderson to level the tie up once more and set up a grandstand finish.
And the twist in the tail came when Chris Price added a third for Sutherland with 3? minutes to play to complete the turn around with a fine finish from the edge of the box.
It sparked a furious goalmouth scramble that involved Denham and the entire defence to beat out three attempts as Sutherland struggled to hang on at the end.
As Sydney Olympic coach Peter Tsekenis said prior to the kick-off:
?This game can go either way, it?s a tough one for us both and you never know what will happen in football,? in what turned out to be quite prophetic.
Sadly but understandable in the circumstances, neither coach was available for comment after the game so stand-in spokesman for Sutherland Sharks, captain George Souris, stated afterwards:
?That was a tough, tough game for us today and we were pretty ordinary to be honest.
?Our passing game let us down badly but at the end of the day we hung in there and Olympic were particularly good on the break.
?We stood our ground and were strong on our set pieces especially in our defending as that is where Olympic are good, although we couldn?t find our rhythm, it was a stop-start match and it was the same for them too but that?s the way it is sometimes.
?We are happy with the points but we have a lot to do before our match next week.?
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 2 (Phil Makrys 10?, 59)
Sutherland Sharks 3 (Panni Nikas 33?, Matt Bailey 84?, Chris Price 88?)
Sunday 19th August, 2012
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Referee: Strebre Delovski
Assistant Referees: Scott Edeling and Thomas Lee
Fourth Official: Adrian Arnott
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 3.Brett Studman, 4.Ibrahim Haydar, 7.Phil Makrys (C), 8.Peter Triantis, 10.Chris Triantis (19.David Gullo 66?), 11.Will Angel (15.Zakeriya Elrich 73?), 12.Troy Danaskos, 17.Kutaiba Elrich, 21.Marton Vass (14.Sam Awad 82?)
Substitutes Not Used: 23.Amaury Gauthier, 32.Luke Kairies
Yellow Cards: Chris Triantis 50?, Phil Makrys 54?
Red Cards: Peter Triantis 12?
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 2.George Souris (C), 3.Tyson Rhodes (18.Michael Stuart 79?), 4.Yianni Fragogianis (7.Jim Bakis), 6.Matthew Gordon, 8.Chris Price, 10.Matt Bailey, 12.Hayden Morton, 13.Niko Tsattalios, 14.Nick Stavroulakis (16.Klim Gjoreski 60?), 23.Panni Nikas
Substitutes Not Used: 5.Paul Cotte, 22.Simon Jaeger,
Yellow Cards: Morton 31?, Rhodes 54?, Bailey 61?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Micky Brock
