Brave Spartans complete comeback victory over Olympic
An inspired second-half performance saw Blacktown Spartans fight back from a goal down to defeat heavyweights Sydney Olympic 4-2 at Blacktown Football Park on Saturday night.
Luke Austin’s first of the night was cancelled out by a Phil Makrys penalty and an Elsid Barkhousir goal as Olympic held a 2-1 lead at the interval.
Spartans returned from the sheds to reclaim the lead as Austin secured a hard earned hat-trick before Nathan Millgate was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
Despite their numerical disadvantage the hosts went on to seal victory as Andre Carle netted a late stunner to complete the famous win against their highly fancied opponents.
While the match kicked off in cold conditions in what felt like the first wintery night of the season the players did have the treat of playing on a near dry pitch as Blacktown Football Park’s immaculate drainage system ensured the match was not played in deteriorated conditions after the heavy downpour experienced earlier.
Barkhousir looked lively in the opening seconds as he stole possession from kick-off and outpaced several players to make his way into the box; his finish however lacked conviction and was easily held by Luke Austin.
Great build up play saw the hosts create their first opportunity of the match minutes later as they worked the ball well around the centre of the park before Carle picked his opportunity to burst into the box before drawing a bold save from Paul Henderson who spread his frame well to make the crucial block.
There was little Henderson could do to prevent Spartans from taking the lead soon after as the hosts tore Olympic apart on the right flank.
Carle appeared to have caught the usually reliable Brett Studman off guard as he both outpaced and outmuscled the defender to leave him in his wake before centring for Austin to calmly slot the ball into the back of the net to open the scoring.
The home side’s celebrations were short lived as Olympic immediately pressed forward in search of an equaliser and were handed a golden opportunity to secure it when Luka Dukic unfortunately handled the ball in the box.
Makrys never looked like missing as he confidently powered the ball down the centre of the goal as Turnbull dived to his left, levelling things up shortly before the quarter hour mark.
With parity restored both sides appeared to have settled into their respective strides as they assertively stroked the ball around the pitch in the hunt for openings in each other’s backlines.
Austin found one midway through the half when his greater experience of playing on the synthetic turf of Blacktown Football Park allowed his to better judge the bounce of the ball to catch Olympic’s defence off balance; Henderson was on hand to save the day as he blocked Austin’s shot to keep his side level.
A poor pass out of defence by Turnbull handed Olympic their next chance soon after the half hour mark; Hussein Salameh was onto the ball like a flash before dragging his powerful strike the ball wide of goal from 25-yards.
Seconds later at the other end a rare shot from Millgate would have restored the host’s lead were it not for a fine diving save from Henderson; the defender cut inside from the right flank before drilling a low effort toward the near post which was tipped wide by Olympic’s custodian.
Bryan Soane headed Austin’s ensuing corner straight at Henderson, taking the pressure off Olympic who regathered their shape before hitting the lead on their next attack.
Barkhousir was perhaps fortunate to receive his chance which he duly converted as he inadvertently controlled a long ball with his back, wrong-footing his marker and catching Turnbull in no man’s land to touch the ball past the keeper and into the net.
Spartans looked to string a few attacks in to force an equaliser before the interval yet in their rush they repeatedly coughed up possession all across the park while Olympic held firm at the back to maintain their lead going into the sheds.
Coach Ben DeHaan weaved his magic at half-time as his side appeared to have regained their composure for the second half while it was more of the same from Olympic who looked to create some breathing space with another goal.
The visitors came close soon after the restart when Makrys’ free-kick was misjudged by Turnbull who was well off his line when Marton Vass got his head to the ball; fortunately for Turnbull, Vass floated his header well over the crossbar to let the keeper off the hook.
Spartans then punished Olympic for the miss with their next attack as Corey Bizco produced a brilliant cross from deep on the left to pick out Austin at the far post; the anchor man made what was a difficult finish look easy as he calmly side-footed a volley past Henderson to level the scores up once again.
The goal spurred on both sides as they pressed forward in search of the lead.
Set piece specialist Daniel Wilkinson looked to have found the time and space to line up a 30-yard strike from open play soon after yet a Studman put his body on the line to block the strike and keep Spartans at bay.
The hosts then spurned a dead ball opportunity which then allowed Olympic to break forward on the counterattack; substitute William Angel burst into space on the left flank before firing in a low cross that deflected off Turnbull and was hacked clear by Millgate.
Bizco tried his luck from long range with an outrageous 40-yard strike soon after which dropped just wide yet they were not to be denied for much longer as Brendan Hooper handled the ball in the box with a quarter hour to go.
Austin stepped up to take the penalty; Henderson blocked his original effort only for Austin to react quickest to poke home the rebound to put Spartans in front and secure his hat-trick.
The match then took an interesting turn as Millgate his second yellow card of the match for foul immediately after Olympic kicked back off, setting the stage for an intriguing finish as Spartans were forced to defend their lead with a numerical disadvantage.
Peter Tsekenis’ men went close to finding an equaliser straight from Makrys’ free-kick yet Turnbull reacted just in time to backpedal and tip the ball away for a corner.
Turnbull made yet another miraculous save soon after as he touched substitute Luke Grima’s header wide – play was eventually pulled back by the referee as Grima was flagged for offside yet it was a brilliant save all the same.
With Olympic throwing everything forward and Spartans with their backs pressed against the wall few expected them to score yet again; they did so late on as the hosts broke forward before Carle found himself a yard of space 25-yard from goal to curl a spectacular strike over Henderson and under the bar to secure the win for his side.
Olympic continued to hunt for a goal to get themselves back into the match but it proved to be too little too late as Spartans held on until the final whistle to secure a famous win in front of their own fans.
Blacktown Spartans coach Ben DeHaan was notably delighted with the win after the effort his side put in today against their highly fancied opposition:
“I’m extremely happy with that one,” said DeHaan.
“After a few weeks finally a few things pieced together, the football was good, and that second goal was class – from the back all the way to the net – the cross and the finish was lovely.
“We had the ball for most of the half and created chances.
“They had one or two but we had plenty of the ball and created plenty of chances.
“We just kept going and going and found the net and we just picked it up with our belief.”
DeHaan also took time to heap praise on his hat-trick hero Luke Austin after his fine individual performance played an integral part in tonight’s win:
“He’s a boy that puts in every week,” remarked DeHaan.
“Even in our losses I think he’s often been our best player.
“It was extremely good to see him get the reward like that tonight.”
Sydney Olympic coach Peter Tsekenis was thoroughly disappointed with the performance of his side as they let their half-time lead slip to come away with nothing on the night:
“To be honest I thought we were probably lucky to be leading,” said Tsekenis.
“We probably got our just reward at the end of the game as we were very poor as a unit and we got all we deserved at the end.
“We’ve had players come in and players come out and can’t use everyone at the same time so our balance is a little bit out.
“We need to make sure that we’re solid again and we’ll go back to the drawing board to do the simple things right because at the moment it’s the simple things that we’re getting wrong – simple passing, simple movement, simple clearing – whatever it may be it’s those simple things that we’re doing wrong.
“Until we get the simple things right again then we can worry about the rest.”
After a bright start to their season with an undefeated Preseason Cup title under the belt Tsekenis has yet to see similar consistency from his side in their 2013 IGA National Premier League NSW Mens 1 campaign and will be looking to get his side back on track for the finals over the coming weeks:
“It’s not gone to plan obviously,” said Tsekenis.
“We’ve had some changes in the loss of players and have had to regroup and shuffle here and there.
“We had a good start in the Pre Season Cup but I think we’ve gone flat since then.
“I don’t think our performance for the last three or four weeks have been at all flash to be honest as we’ve just hit a flat spot.
“We need to go back to training, work hard, and step it up.”
Match Stats
Blacktown Spartans 4 (Luke Austin 7’, 50’, 76’, Andre Carle 85’)
Sydney Olympic 2 (Phil Makrys 13’ (pen), Elsid Barkhousir 36’)
Saturday April 20th, 2013
Blacktown Football Park, Rooty Hill
Referee: Khodr Yaghi
Assistant Referees: David Morris and James Tesroriero
Fourth Official: Matthew Wright
Blacktown Spartans: 20.Luke Turnbull; 2.Luke Austin, 3.Nathan Millgate, 4.Luka Dukic, 5.Daniel Wilkinson (22.Pasquale Polistina 90’+1’), 7.Andre Carle, 9.Jun Kato (17.Wassim Hijazi 90+3’), 10.Bryan Soane (6.Luke Jenner 82’), 11.Tyson Rhodes, 25.Corey Bizco, 38.Zac Freeburn
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Karl Bodenstein, 8.Damir Prodanovic
Yellow Cards: Nathan Millgate 30’, Luka Dukic 37’, Zac Freeburn 48’, Andre Carle 86’
Red Cards: Nathan Millgate 77’
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 3.Brett Studman, 4.Ibrahim Haydar, 6.Marton Vass (11.William Angel 57’), 7.Phil Makrys, 8.Kingsley Williams, 12.Troy Danaskos, 14.Petar Markovic (22.Amaury Gauthier 81’), 16.Elsid Barkhousir, 18.Hussein Salameh (9.Luke Grima 72’), 24.Brendan Hooper
Substitutes Not Used: 15.Zakeriya Elrich, 23.Luke Kairies
Yellow Cards: Hussein Salameh 68’
Red Cards: nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Luke Austin (BS)
2 – Andre Carle (BS)
1 – Phil Makrys (SO)
-By Michael Shoolman
