Dramatic injury time winner sees Sutherland defeat Olympic

A spirited Sutherland Sharks struck deep in injury-time to secure a dramatic of 2-1 victories over Sydney Olympic in a highly entertaining clash at Seymour Shaw Stadium on Saturday night.
The match appeared set for a draw after Elsid Barkhousir had cancelled out Perry Moustakas’ opener for the hosts; however young gun substitute Chris Naumoff popped up late on to seal the win in the most dramatic of fashion with a goal in the 5′ minute of injury-time that brought jubilation for Sutherland and heartbreak for Olympic.
The stage was set for an attractive 90′ minutes of football as both sides looked to keep the ball on the deck to utilise the consistency of Seymour Shaw’s synthetic turf.
Once both sides settled into their stride the visitors gave Sutherland an early scare when Hussein Salameh turned smartly to dart through the centre of the park before releasing William Angel wide in the box. Only a crucial touch from Nick Stavroulakis spared Sutherland as he diverted the ball out for an Olympic corner which was comfortably punched away by Nathan Denham.
Nik Tsattalios made a solo run of his own against his former employers minutes later; the ball eventually bobbled through to Brad Boardman who couldn’t get a solid shot off under the intense pressure from Olympic’s central defensive pairing of Brett Studman and Brendan Hooper.
McMaster split Olympic wide open on Sutherland’s next attack with a miracle ball to send Panni Nikas through on goal. Brett Studman reacted quickly to get back and make a last ditch challenge at the expense of a corner.
The pressure was only temporarily relieved as Sutherland took full advantage of the set piece with a smartly worked short corner ending with Moustakas turning the ball inside the far post to open the scoring. It was the tough defender’s first goal in Sharks colours since his move from the Cypriot First Division and it was made that much sweeter against his former club he played as a junior.
Sutherland almost doubled their lead soon after as Nikas slid Nathan Elasi into the box with a cheeky through ball; Elasi had a split second to get his toe-poke away before seeing Paul Henderson touch the ball wide.
Sydney Olympic soon regained their composure and began to press forward in search of an equaliser with Kingsley Williams looking particularly sharp in dictating play from the centre of midfield.
A rare moment of misjudgement from Denham got the fans’ hearts racing as a left wing cross from Angel eluded him in the air; fortunately Klim Gjorseski was on hand to clear the ball from Emmanuel Giannaros who was lurking at the back post.
Petar Markovic appeared to have put Barkhousir on his way to an equaliser when his lofted ball caught the Sutherland backline standing flat, however Barkhousir failed to hit the target as he powered his effort narrowly over the crossbar to let the hosts off the hook.
Williams crossed the ball into the danger area soon after the half hour mark; the ball bobbled around in the box before falling to Barkhousir who saw his vicious shot bravely blocked at point-blank by Michael Stuart.
While Olympic looked odds on to force an equaliser Sutherland almost doubled their advantage at the other end when Gjorseski picked out Elasi’s sneaky run with a perfectly weighted ball; Elasi then turned inside the onrushing Brendan Hooper before seeing his finish well held by Henderson.
Despite chances at both ends only the single goal split the sides at the interval as long-range efforts from Williams and Markovic flashed high and wide respectively.
The hosts appeared content to defend their lead and create opportunities on the counter after the restart as Olympic attacked continuously while Sutherland absorbed the pressure.
Olympic came within a whisker of levelling the scores just before the hour mark as their continual pressure eventually forged a crack in Sutherland’s backline. The chance fell to Amaury Gauthier who squeezed his shot past Denham from a narrow angle only for Stuart to hack the goal-bound effort clear to preserve his sides lead.
The clearance was one of many highlights for Stuart who impressed on the right side of Sutherland’s defence with his composed defending and forward runs.
Elasi temporarily appeared to have foiled an Olympic attack as he slid to intercept a ball in his own half, yet Troy Danaskos was on hand to steal possession back before stinging the palms of Denham with a rocket of a shot that was parried away for a corner.
Olympic finally forced their hard earned equaliser as Sutherland twice failed to clear the ensuing set piece; the original clearance fell to Gauthier who saw his volley blocked by Denham who had appeared invincible all match until Olympic found the net seconds later.
The ball found its way straight back into the box for Barkhouser to climb highest and head the ball home via Denham’s fingertips to send the travelling fans into frenzy.
Robbie Stanton responded to the goal by withdrawing Boardman to inject Nicholas Olsen into his attack; the move almost paid immediate dividends as Stavroulakis played Olsen into a goalscoring position only for the substitute to fire wide with his first touch.
Olsen was in the thick of it moments later as he played a smart one-two with Nikas to create another chance for himself; only the reactions of Henderson prevented the opportunity as the custodian darted off his line to steal the chance from Olsen who was bearing down with blistering pace.
Tempers appeared set to boil over late in the half when McMaster literally picked the ball up during open play to enter into a heated exchange of words with Barkhousir who was in his ear to kick the ball out as an Olympic player appeared to be injured.
Referee Kurt Ams did well to calm the confrontation down, even keeping his cards in his pocket before Olympic sportingly returned possession to Sutherland from the ensuing free-kick.
Olympic handed the hosts the chance to grab a late win as they conceded a foul 20-yards from goal in the last minute of normal time; the crowd were on the edge their seats as Nikas’ curled effort deflected narrowly wide.
Nikas combined well with Stavroulakis from the following short corner to beat Olympic’s offside trap, however the final cross evaded his teammates allowing the visitors to clear their lines.
With the match rolling deep into the fifth minute of injury time and a draw seeming imminent the hosts launched one final attack, charging through the centre of the park before Nikas released young substitute Naumoff into the box; the former Sydney FC National Youth League midfielder made no mistake, blasting the ball beyond Henderson and inside the near post to seal the dramatic win and cause pandemonium both on the pitch and in the stands.
It was an exciting end to a thoroughly enjoyable match that will be sure to remain in the minds of fans for years to come.
Sutherland Sharks coach Robbie Stanton was happy to take the win after conceding his side looked odds on to come away with a draw:
“To be honest every time we play each other it’s one of those games,” said Stanton.
“There’s a lot of passion between the two clubs, I thought it was played in good spirits in the end and you’ve just got to expect that sort of intensity.
“It was probably an unlikely win in the end when it’d probably turn out to be a draw.
“In the first-half I thought we could have put the game away, in the first 20′ minutes we probably had enough chances there.
“In the second 20′ minutes they did what we did to them with their game and really pegged us in there and to be honest I was waiting and waiting for the moment to make my certain changes, just waiting for a certain time in the game when we just couldn’t hold out, but in the end the changes came and I think that made the difference to be honest.”
Stanton also stated his admiration for his opponent’s style of play before backing his side to improve in the weeks ahead:
“Let’s face it, they’re a good team,” said Stanton.
“They play different to us and their style with the way they play is effective.
“It’s all about getting effective possession in the front third and taking them and they do that pretty well.
“In the end I’m happy with it but there’s a still a lot of improvement in us.
“We had control there for long period and totally lost it – last year even though we didn’t make the play-offs there weren’t many games where we lost control for long periods so certainly there’s a bit of resolve about us compared to what was there last year.
“It’s probably the mature players are coming in, the depth of the squad, and some real quality young kids coming through – about eight or nine players coming through who are all Sutherland based – so it gives us a really high percentage of developed players so I’m really happy.”
Sydney Olympic coach Peter Tsekenis was understandably reserved after the match, echoing Stanton’s sentiment that a draw was the deserved result for both sides:
“I thought it was a quite entertaining game,” said Tsekenis.
“I thought both sides really had a go and there was good football and good quality.
“It’s definitely disappointing to lose that way but that’s football – you win some, you lose some.
“I thought in the first-half after they scored the goal from the set piece and were on top for 10′ or 15′ minutes I thought that that the rest of the game and even the first-half we got back on top.
“We had some good chances and continued that in the second half.
“It was a really good game and a fair result would have been a draw in my opinion and at the end they were good enough to carve out an opportunity at the death and get the winner.”
Despite the loss Tsekenis was happy with the overall performance of his side who will look get back amongst the winners next weekend:
“We’ll just continue what we’re doing,” said Tsekenis.
“I was quite happy with everything we did, it would have been nice to capitalise on a few opportunities.
“We really earned that goal today when we equalised and I thought we had a couple of really good chances to get on top and power home.
“These things happen – they’re a good side and have made some really good signings.
“I thought we competed well and were unlucky in the end but that’s football.”
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks 2 (Perry Moustakas 11’, Chris Naumoff 90’+5’)
Sydney Olympic FC 1 (Elsid Barkhousir 63’)
Saturday March 23rd, 2013
Seymour Shaw Stadium, Miranda
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Nick Backo and James Tessoriro
Fourth Official: Sebastian Brennan
Sutherland Sharks: 1.Nathan Denham; 9.Bradley Boardman (8.Nicholas Olsen 66’), 7.Nathan Elasi, 17.Klim Gjorseski (19.Chris Naumoff 86’), 4.James McKenzie, 10.Jamie McMaster, 15.Perry Moustakas, 23.Panni Nikas, 14.Nick Stavroulakis, 3.Michael Stuart, 33.Nik Tsattalios (6.Matthew Gordon 46’)
Substitutes Not Used: 22.Andrew Depta, 13.Reo Morinaga
Yellow Cards: Jamie McMaster 87’, Panni Nikas 90’+1’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 11.William Angel (15.Zakeriya El-Rich 76’), 16.Elsid Barkhousir (21.James.Demetriou 90’+2’), 12.Troy Danaskos, 22.Amaury Gauthier, 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 24.Brendan Hooper, 14.Peter Markovic, 18.Husein Salameh, 3.Brett Studman, 8.Kingsley Williams (27.Dylan Stivala 86’)
Substitutes Not Used: 23.Luke Kairies
Yellow Cards: Elsid Barkhousir 32’, Zakeriya El-Rich 90+1’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:

3 – Kingsley Williams (SO)

2 – Perry Moustakas (SS)

1 – Nick Stavroulakis (SS)

-By Michael Shoolman