Sydney Olympic get better of Wolves
Sydney Olympic recorded its fourth victory of the IGA National Premier League NSW Mens 1 competition defeating the South Coast Wolves 2-0 at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday.
Second half goals to Amaury Gauthier and Ibrahim Haydar set the win up for the home side against a disappointing Wolves side.
Despite missing captain Phil Makrys and defender Brett Studman due to injury, youngster Brendan Hooper and the returning Emmanuel Giannaros combined well with Ibrahim Haydar and Troy Danaskos to limit the Wolves opportunities on goal.
Sydney Olympic started on the front foot with a flurry of good runs down both touchlines troubling the Wolves defence.
The positive start gave Olympic their first proper sight on goal in the 10’ minute after Brendan Hooper won the ball before feeding William Angel through on the left. Unluckily for the winger, his low cross was not met by Barkhousir seeing the ball glide across the face of goal.
The home side again applied pressure on the Wolves defence in the 17’ minute when Angel played Kingsley Williams through on goal only for the Englishman to send his shot wide of the mark.
South Coast started to string passes together in the attacking third halfway through the first term winning a free-kick on the edge of the box only to be easily cleared by Olympic.
Marton Vass was the next to try and unlock the Wolves defence in the 30’ minute but his chipped through ball was not read by his attackers with the Wolves goalkeeper collecting.
Angel was at it again in the 36’ minute taking on two defenders before passing the ball back to Giannaros whose first time cross was met well by Gauthier, only for the winger’s header to go wide.
Olympic forced the Wolves shot-stopper into his first real save in the 41’ minute when Petar Markovic’s fantastically struck free-kick was parried away before being cleared.
The Wolves came out of the sheds hungry and almost opened the scoring within 2’ minutes. After great lead up play down the left the ball was switched to a free Sam Matthews whose shot was tapped out for a corner by Paul Henderson.
Despite the positive start for the Wolves it was the home side who took the lead in the 54’ minute as Gauthier pounced on a mistake by Jacob Timpano, going on to beat two defenders before his shot was deflected back into him only needing to tap the ball into an open net for the 1-0 lead.
Sydney Olympic had the chance to double its lead in the 61’ minute after Angel’s clever touch saw Elsid Barkhousir on goal but the striker’s shot was easily saved.
10’ minutes later, and the Blues had a good chance after the Wolves poorly cleared straight to Angel whose volley went well over the bar.
South Coast continued their counterattack tactics and in the 72’ minute were unlucky not to equalise. An advancing Jacob Timpano was found free on the back post by left back Sam Chapple, only for the former A-League player to completely miss the target.
But it was the Blues who put the game to bed in the 80’ minute. After the Wolves failed to clear an Angel floating free-kick, Ibrahim Haydar stepped up to head the ball home making it 2-0.
Following the match Sydney Olympic coach Peter Tsekenis said he was pleased with his side’s performance:
“I thought in the first-half we started off very well and we did what we were supposed to do,’’ Tsekenis said.
“Coming into half time 0-0 was a bit disappointing after the dominant half we had so that is always a concern.
“The second-half became a bit scrappy but we found the goal and then we got the second one and the game didn’t hit any heights after that.
“We’ll take the points considering we have a lot of boys sore and injured. Three points at this stage was very important.
In the opposition dressing room South Coast Wolves captain Jacob Timpano spoke of his team’s efforts:
“We came here wanting to get something out of the game,’’ Timpano said.
“We looked ok in the first-half but in the second we came undone after a bit of an error from me against the run of play.
“We got outmuscled and outplayed and until some of the younger boys start stepping up and putting their bodies on the line it is going to be very difficult for us.’’
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 2 (Amaury Gauthier 54’, Ibrahim Haydar 80’)
South Coast Wolves 0
Saturday 12th May, 2013
Belmore Sports Ground
Referee: Michael Weiner
Assistant Referees: Lachlan Keevers and Nathan Wotton
Fourth Official: Benjamin Abraham
Sydney Olympic: 1.Paul Henderson; 2.Emmanuel Giannaros, 14.Petar Markovic, 4.Ibrahim Haydar (C), 11.William Angel, 16.Elsid Barkhousir (10.Renato Franco Ramirez 74’), 12.Troy Danaskos, 8.Kingsley Williams, 6.Marton Vass (15.Zak Elrich 58’), 22.Amaury Gauthier, 24.Brendan Hooper (9.Luke Grima 64’)
Substitutes Not Used: 28.Anthony Bouzanis, 19.Chris Godoy Bascur
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
South Coast Wolves: 20.Thomas Hamilton; 4.Michael Robinson, 14.Mitchell Del Turco (10.Ricky Zucco 77’), 17.Zachery Mackenzie, 5.James Baldacchino, 12.Joseph Lavalle, 26.Jacob Timpano (C), 3.Samuel Chapple, 6.Christopher Nathaniel, 21.Sam Matthews, 2.Jack Keating (11.John Martinoski 64’)
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Daniel Collison, 15.Matthew Floro
Yellow Cards: Timpano 83’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – William Angel (SO)
2 – Amaury Gauthier (SO)
1 – Brendan Hooper (SO)
-By Chris Georges
