Reds grab bragging rights with defeat of Sydney Olympic
Sydney United 58 FC maintained its perfect record in the IGA National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 competition with a 1-0 victory over Sydney Olympic at Lily Homes Stadium on Sunday.
In a dominant first-half display Sydney United captain Luka Glavas scored from the spot in the 50th year the two teams have faced each other.
Sydney Olympic’s Petar Markovic was given the captain’s armband in his first game against his former club of 19 years but it wasn’t enough to get the result.
The game began at a slow pace with both sides testing each other with strong challenges all over the park.
It took until the 10’ minute for the first chance of the game to surface. A through ball to Yuchi Yamauchi on the right looked to go too far but the winger just kept the ball in, cut it back and crossed to a free Robert Mileski on the back post whose volley was deflected just over the bar for a corner.
Sydney Olympic fired right back with their own chance in the 12’ minute. After United failed to clear the ball, Phil Makrys saw his left foot shot well saved by Jordan Jennings.
United started dominating play and in the 18’ minute took the lead. Olympic defender Ibrahim Haydar sent a soft square ball to Brett Studman with the latter bringing down Luka Glavas in the box giving referee Kevin Peddie no choice but to point to the spot. Glavas dusted himself off and sent Paul Henderson the wrong way to give United the 1-0 lead.
The Reds had a shout for another penalty turned down 3’ minutes later when Emmanuel Giannaros looked to have handled the ball.
Olympic winger Hussein Salameh almost got his side back in the game in the 23’ minute but his close-range shot was well saved by on debut United goalkeeper Jordan Jennings.
The home side started to control the match with several great touches in the middle of the park led by influential midfielder Glen Trifiro.
In the 25’ minute United almost made it two after Glavas played an early through ball to Mirjan Pavlovic, quickly passing to Mileski who chipped the ball over the defence to Yamauchi whose quick scissor kick went over the bar.
United centre back Calum O’Connell got on the end of a great Trifiro play in the 34’ minute, only for his shot to also go over.
Sydney Olympic came out of the break strong and could have equalised on 48’ minutes.
Phil Makrys won the ball in the middle of the park and attacked the United defensive line before playing a through ball to substitute Amaury Gauthier on the left whose first time cross was just cleared before an oncoming attacker.
Despite almost getting back into the game Sydney Olympic’s task got even harder in the 53’ minute when Brett Studman was sent from the field after a second yellow card.
The home side tried to close out the game with a flurry of chances immediately, only for shots to continue going over the bar.
On 58’ minutes Sydney United opened up the Olympic defence again. Yamauchi fed Pavlovic early from the half way line with the latter playing an early ball to Glavas. With only the goalkeeper to beat Glavas was thwarted by a last ditch tackle from Emmanuel Giannaros.
2’ minutes later Sydney Olympic failed to clear a corner with the ball falling to Anthony Tomelic whose volley went just wide of the left-hand upright.
Makrys tried to get his team back into the game in the 61’ minute, but his 35-yard shot missed the target.
For the last half hour of the match Sydney Olympic controlled possession for larger periods but could not hit the back of the net.
In the 69’ minute Olympic had a penalty of their own turned down after Barkhousir went down in box.
With 11’ minutes remaining Blues coach Peter Tsekenis rolled the dice going to three defenders with Troy Danaskos and Emmanuel Giannaros playing further up the pitch.
Giannaros was back to save the day again in the 87’ minute as Mitchell Speer moved forward he cut the ball back to Daniel Barac in the box who found Glavas. After a fantastic turn he got his shot off just late with Giannaros clearing.
A minute later Sydney United should have had their second. Matthew Bilic played a lovely hard cross form the left with Barac getting to the ball but Henderson saved as the ball trickled towards the goal line.
Sydney Olympic kept fighting until the final whistle with Danaskos hitting a free-kick just wide of the right post in the 4’ minute of injury time.
Following the match Sydney United 58 midfielder Glen Trifiro admitted it wasn’t his side’s best game but it was important to take the three points:
“At this stage of the season the main aim is to get three points and keep the team going well and get into good habits,’’ he said.
“It wasn’t our best performance by any means but it was enough to get the points.
“We go into every game thinking we can win. We’ve got a great confidence with the boys as we know we can play a couple of different styles, get gritty if we need to but we can also play good football.’’
In the away dressing room Sydney Olympic’s Petar Markovic said:
“We could have played better but we did battle with a man down. Things should’ve gone our way but they didn’t. Credit to Sydney United and the group there, they picked up the three points and we didn’t.
“We will put this result behind us and look forward.’’
Match Stats
Sydney United 58 FC 1 (Luka Glavas 18’)
Sydney Olympic 0
Sunday 7th April, 2013
Lily Homes Stadium
Referee: Kevin Peddie
Sydney United 58 FC: 41.Jordan Jennings; 15.Anthony Tomelic, 6.Mitchell Stamatellis, 9.Robert Mileski (19.Matthew Bilic 80’), 18.Glen Trifiro, 11.Luka Glavas (C), 5.Calum O’Connell, 8.Yuchi Yamauchi (22.Daniel Barac 72’), 7.Mirjan Pavlovic (10.Chris Triantis 90’+2’), 3.Ben Jurman, 2.Mitchell Speer
Substitutes Not Used: 16.Stjepan Paric
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 14.Petar Markovic, 3.Brett Studman, 7.Phil Makrys (15.Zak Elrich 70’), 4.Ibrahim Haydar, 11.William Angel (24.Brendan Hooper 79’), 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 16.Elsid Barkhousir, 18.Hussein Salameh (22.Amaury Gauthier 46’), 12.Troy Danaskos, 8.Kingsley Williams
Substitutes Not Used: 23.Luke Kairies
Yellow Cards: Markovic 75’, Henderson 85’, Studman 18’, 53’
Red Cards: Studman 53’
Player Ratings:
3 – Glen Trifiro (SU)
2 – Mirjan Pavlovic (SU)
1 – Emmanuel Giannaros (SO)
-By Chris Georges
