Sydney Olympic grind past ten man Blacktown City

Sydney Olympic were forced to work their socks off to earn a 2-1 victory over a stubborn ten-man Blacktown City FC on a hot Easter Sunday afternoon at Belmore Sports Ground.
After a quarter hour the task appeared simple for the hosts after Kingsley Williams gave Olympic the early lead minutes before Zac Cairncross was dismissed for pulling down Elsid Barkhousir at last man.
Despite the setback Blacktown refused to roll over, finding a first half equaliser through Harris Gaitatzis only to succumb to defeat after Troy Danaskos struck a 30-yard screamer to seal the points for Olympic.
It was an impressive display by Blacktown who created plenty of opportunities despite their numerical disadvantage while Olympic showed great character to grind out a positive result against a side with a reputation for lifting with ten men on the park.
Both sides battled intensely for control from the outset after having played out an entertaining Pre-Season Cup Final only three weeks earlier in which Olympic also came out on top by a 2-1 scoreline.
The hosts utilised the flanks well in the opening minutes, looking to test the Blacktown backline which held firm with Cairncross holding his ground to block William Angel’s run as he burst into the box.
Blacktown looked for joy on the break and played Matthew Mayora in behind Olympic’s defence; the striker managed to cut inside Brett Studman before being thwarted by Emmanuel Giannaros’ textbook sliding challenge.
Mayora did manage to get a header on target soon after from a dangerous Matt Lewis corner yet the effort was well held by Paul Henderson who was well positioned to make a comfortable save to deny his former teammate.
Olympic opened up Blacktown’s backline and the scoring from their next attack when Elsid Barkhousir skipped past Patrick Gatt and forced custodian Brody Crane to clear with his legs; the clearance was intercepted on the edge of the box by Williams who kept his head to finish with a cool first time shot despite the distraction of onrushing defenders.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors just before the quarter hour mark when Barkhousir was dragged down by Cairncross at last man as the pair raced toward a well weighted through ball. Referee Khodr Yaghi went straight to his pocket to flash the red card and send Cairncross down the tunnel for an early shower.
The ten remaining men from Blacktown showed great resilience as they ventured forward in search of an equaliser with Harris Gaitatzis blazing a hopeful effort over from 40-yards before Mayora headed Travis Major’s cross well over the crossbar.
Crane came to the rescue for Blacktown at the other end soon after, producing a fine diving save to pick Troy Danaskos’ crossed header to keep the ball away from Barkhousir who was lurking at the back post.
Blacktown kept at it in the final third with Ray Miller playing Ryuji Miyazawa into the box; the fleet-footed Japanese import got his low shot on target yet Henderson was on hand to make a simple save.
The visitors continued to create chances despite their numerical disadvantage as Miller was played into the box himself; Henderson was up to the task yet again, getting down low to make a bold stop.
There was little Henderson could do to keep Blacktown at bay minutes later when Miyazawa and Lewis combined well before the latter centred to Gaitatzis who hooked the ball over the keeper from close range to level the scorers.
A shell-shocked Olympic looked to force their way back into the lead but it was Blacktown who had the ball in the back of the net once again with the half-time whistle looming; Miller played Gaitatzis through on goal yet Adam Coombes’ raised flag for marginal offside rightly ruled out Gaitatzis’ powerful finish.
Peter Tsekenis worked his magic in the sheds during the interval as the hosts looked to have regained their structure from the start of the second period, controlling the middle of the park and dictating the tempo of the match with extended periods of possession.
Mark Crittenden on the other hand made a double sub, bringing in Yianni Fragogiannis to anchor his midfield and injecting the strength of Sean Rooney into his attack.
The first decent chance of the second period was created by the fresh legs of Rooney as he outmuscled Ibrahim Haydar to get in behind the Olympic defence, however Haydar and Studman combined well to force Rooney wide, narrowing the angle to allow Henderson to block Rooney’s effort on goal.
Both sides created openings at either end yet lacked the final product to find the lead until Danaskos produced a contender for goal of the season with an immaculate 30-yard strike midway through the half.
Blacktown afforded Danaskos the time and space to line up his strike which rocketed past the helpless keeper and found its way into the back of the net via the underside of the post.
Barkhousir could have given the hosts some breathing space soon after he snuck in behind Blacktown’s defence and into the box however his finish let him down as he blazed well over the crossbar.
The hosts spurned further chances to make sure of the points when substitutes Amaury Gauthier and Zakeriya Elrich saw their efforts saved and Blacktown almost made them pay for their complacency on their next counterattack.
Major latched onto a long ball out of defence before holding the ball up and threading the ball through to give Gaitatzis a glorious chance to equalise; the attacker couldn’t find the target, pulling his shot over the crossbar much to the relief of the Olympic bench.
With the full-time whistle looming the visitors were able to forge one final opportunity from a corner yet Yianni Fragogiannis’ shot couldn’t find its way through a wall of players who deflected the ball clear to hold on for the win.
Sydney Olympic coach Peter Tsekenis was happy to take the win after a tough afternoon for his side saw them come away with all three points:
“I thought we started quite well with 11 v 11,” said Tsekenis.
“We scored a good goal, were well on top, and then they got a player sent off and it made it difficult.
“You always know that against ten men that they’re going to always lift and you have to govern them, and if you don’t and take your foot off the peddle it becomes a tussle and a tough match and that’s what happened today.
“Credit to Blacktown, they really put in a great effort in the conditons – it’s quite hot out there.
“I thought that leading up to half-time we really backed off to my frustration as well.
“In the second half we’d had a chat at half time and picked up the tempo, got the goal, probably could have scored another one or two.
“I thought Blacktown still looked quite dangerous on the counter which concerned me a bit.
“We’ll take the victory, take the three points after we were probably the better side last week and got nothing.
“This week even though we played against ten men we got the result and at this stage that’s very important.”
Blacktown City FC midfielder Ray Miller was understandably disappointed by the result after a workmanlike team performance and a fine personal performance saw them fall short and come away with a loss:
“We dug deep; that’s what Blacktown City is all about,” said Miller.
“We worked hard for each other and unfortunately sometimes things don’t go our way and we have to try and dig deep and recover to come up with a draw.
“Of course everyone is disappointed, we probably had enough chances to get the three points but when things don’t go your way and you have half chances missed, everyone gets a bit down in the dumps but that happens.
“We’ve got to do it all again on Friday night at APIA (Leichhardt Tigers) to get three points and move on.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic FC 2 (Kingsley Williams 11’, Troy Danaskos 68’)
Blacktown City FC 1 (Harris Gaitatzis 41’)
Sunday March 31st, 2013
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Referee: Khodr Yaghi
Assistant Referees: Sarah Ho and Adam Coombes
Fourth Official: Tim Turner
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 11.William Angel (22.Amaury Gauthier 61’), 16.Elsid Barkhousir, 12.Troy Danaskos, 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 14.Peter Markovic, 18.Husein Salameh (15.Zakeriya Elrich 72’), 3.Brett Studman, 8.Kingsley Williams, 4.Ibrahim Haydar, 24.Brendan Hooper
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Anthony Bouzanis, 5.Bradley Treloar, 27.Dylan Stivala
Yellow Cards: Brett Studman 82’, Brendan Hooper 90’
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City FC: 1.Brody Crane; 6.Matt Lewis, 5.Patrick Gatt, 19.Zac Cairncross, 7.Travis Major, 8.Ray Miller, 10.Harris Gaitatzis, 12.Kearyn Baccus (4.Yianni Fragogiannis 46’), 16.Luke Clifford, , 15.Matt Mayora (11.Sean Rooney 46’), 9.Ryuji Miyazawa (17.Keiran Paull 74’)
Substitutes Not Used: 13.Blake Tuxford, 14.Sam Perre
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Zac Cairncross 14’
Player Ratings:
3 – Kingsley Williams (SO)
2 – Ray Miller (BC)
1 – Troy Danaskos (SO)
 -By Michael Shoolman