Manly stalemate sees Olympic secure second
Olympic commanded the centre of the park throughout most of the match, yet Manly?s late resurgence could have seen the visitors spoil Olympic?s afternoon with a late winner.
It was not to be in the end as Manly wrap up their campaign with a tenth placed finish while Olympic secured a home semi-final against Marconi Stallions next weekend.
In truth the match could have gone either way, yet of all the goal scoring opportunities created no player managed to rise to the occasion to produce a decisive goal.
An early slip from Troy Danaskos provided Colin Iley the first opportunity of the match, fortunately for Olympic Iley had little angle to work with, giving Paul Henderson a simple early save.
Olympic responded immediately as Phil Makrys drove a powerful 25-yard effort toward goal only to see if deflected narrowly wide by the Manly defence.
Matthew Mayora made space for himself in the Manly box soon after yet was quickly closed down by Leigh Egger who made a crucial block, taking the venom off Mayora?s shot to allow Dylan Mitchell to safely gather the ball.
Olympic handed Scott Balderson a golden opportunity minutes later when the home side failed to clear Matthew Simm?s corner minutes later, however the industrious midfielder let the hosts off the hook as he volleyed over from the edge of the box.
Makrys regularly threatened from the set piece; the pinpoint accuracy of his deliveries gave Manly?s defence a torrid time throughout the match, however the visitors did well to get keep Olympic at bay with a series of crucial interventions.
Zac Elrich carved out a decent opportunity for himself, yet his finish lacked conviction as Mitchell made another simple save and the crowd appeared to show premature signs of frustration.
Marton Vass got himself in on the action midway through the opening half; the dominant defender?s crucial sliding challenges denied Manly United two consecutive goal scoring opportunities.
Makrys picked out Sam Awad with yet another textbook free-kick, however Mitchell was again well positioned to hold the midfielder?s header.
Kutaiba Elrich played Makrys into space on the edge of Manly?s box just before the half hour mark; Makrys beat the keeper and the post with his placed strike that curved agonisingly wide.
Iley showed great improvisation at the other end to set up Simm on the edge of the box; however a lack of composure saw Simm get his finish all wrong, skewing his first time shot well wide of goal.
A defensive error gifted Olympic one of their better opportunities late in the half, however Manly?s defence recovered quickly to pressure Will Angel into driving his finish into the side netting.
Henderson denied Iley an opening goal once again with the final chance of the half, positioning himself well to produce a simple save as the sides went into the interval all square.
It was more of the same in the second-half as both sides continued their search for an opening goal with little success.
Mayora and Zac Elrich saw early efforts held by Mitchell before Todd Bamber turned Simm?s cross into the side netting on the hour mark.
The hosts needed Henderson?s cat-like reflexes to keep themselves level soon after as the Olympic custodian produced a brilliant diving save to parry Balderson?s powerful free-kick.
Olympic finally had the ball in the back of the net in the final quarter hour as Makrys turned Awad?s shot into the back of the net, however the goal was correctly ruled out as the linesman flagged for offside, which was most unfortunate for the hosts as Awad?s shot may well have been goal bound without Makrys? touch.
With the match headed for a goalless draw Manly had one last chance to steal the points deep into injury-time as Iley picked out Balderson with a brilliant cross; however Balderson summed up the tone of the match by diverting his header harmlessly wide.
With no breakthrough the scores remained level at the final whistle, giving Olympic the point they needed to secure a home final while Manly wrap up their season in tenth position.
While happy with a point Sydney Olympic coach Peter Tsekenis will be demanding more from his side in next week?s semi-final clash with Marconi Stallions:
?Of course we would have been happier with three points,? said Tsekenis.
?You always go out to win a game but under the circumstances we had a few players out with cards and we left some players out with cards also.
?We knew a draw would be enough to get us to where we want to be.
?We played with a bit of nerves and it showed out there so it was a little disappointing.
?They had nothing to lose and they had a good crack at us.
?We were probably fortunate to get out with the draw, so we?ll take it and go from there.
?We have a bit of work to do but everyone will be available which is positive so next week should be a good game.?
The 2011 Premiers are looking to defend their title, and Tsekenis is making sure his players don?t get too far ahead of themselves as they take the finals one match at a time:
?We?ll take it a step at a time,? said Tsekenis.
?We?re in a good position to defend our title which is what we ultimately want to achieve.
?That will be a great result but we?ll take it one game at a time,? Tsekenis added.
Manly United FC coach Craig Midgely thought his side could have come away with a win in the end after seeing his slide let late chances slip:
?I thought we could have ?nicked? it at the end really,? said Midgely.
?The last 10? minutes gave us the chances.
?Their obviously happy with a point as they now get a home semi-final, but it was probably a fair result in the end after the game went to-and-fro.
?We were down to the bare bones today with a bench full of 20s that had already played a full game.
?In one way we?re glad to get the season over with, but we have plenty to look forward to with a lot of young lads coming through.
?Hopefully we?ll have a decent break and come back refreshed.?
With their season now concluded Midgley?s men will look to their developing youth system for next season as they look to continue remaining competitive in the NSW Premier League without the budget of the competition?s larger clubs:
?We always say it but we just don?t have the finances of some clubs in this league,? explained Midgely.
?Also geographically as to where we are up at Manly we don?t have a pool of players that the other teams have.
?We really have to try and promote from within.
?We?re planning now for the next few years is to implement our youth system.
?We?ve got some quality kids at the club and it?s a long term plan that we have to develop our own kids.
That way we don?t have to pay the big wages and we also are doing the right thing by our area,? Midgely concluded.
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 0
Manly United FC 0
Sunday, September 2nd, 2012
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Steven Nguyen and Thomas Lee
Fourth Official: Nathan Roberts
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 12.Troy Danaskos, 21.Marton Vass, 4.Ibrahim Haydar, 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 15.Zac Elrich (23.Amaury Gauthier 61?), 11.William Angel, 14.Sam Awad (35.Dylan Stivala 80?), 7.Phil Makrys, 17.Kutaiba Elrich (10.Chris Triantis 74?), 24.Matthew Mayora
Substitutes Not Used: 3.Brett Studman, 32.Luke Kairies
Yellow Cards: Zac Elrich 53?
Red Cards: Nil
Manly United FC: 1.Dylan Mitchell; 3.Roberto Hamad, 4.Graeme Forbes, 6.Michael Daly, 7.Scott Balderson, 8.Daniel Grant, 11.Matthew Simm, 18.Colin Iley, 17.Todd Bamber, 36. James Cullingworth, 21.Leigh Egger
Substitutes Not Used: 25.Tony Liiband, 5.Marc Richards, 28.Josh Ward, 33.Nathan Simm
Yellow Cards: Michael Daly 31?, Cullingworth 42?, Scott Balderson 42?, Graeme Forbes 77?, Roberto Hamad 82?
Red Cards: Nil
-By Michael Shoolman
