Current Cup holders Blacktown City were made to earn their money over Sydney Olympic as they scraped through to the final of the Waratah Cup after an extra-time 2-1 win.

In a tight contest that could really have gone either way, the visitors were successful in what was a contest worthy of a semi-final.

The coach of Blacktown City FC Mark Crittenden could hardly hide his delight after his side’s wonderful achievement.

“I thought our first 15 minutes was really good but the next 25 was really poor and they did get back in the game and did well,” he said.

“After halftime I thought that we got ourselves back into it and our first 25 minutes or so in the second half were really good and we could nearly have put them away.

“You always know when you come here they are going to play good football but of course we are happy.

“We set ourselves a target at the start of the year to go back-to-back and we now have an opportunity to do that.”

In the fifth minute a shot by Yianni Spyrakis was just wide of the mark for the home side as the opening salvo of the game was fired.

However, it was Blacktown City FC that took the lead shortly afterwards when Travis Major went galloping through the middle of the Sydney Olympic defence and, with a powerful shot that was too hot to handle for Paul Henderson, he opened the scoring.

Blacktown City FC tried their luck when Yianni Fragogiannis with a free-kick found Mitchell Mallia in the box who cleverly back-heeled the ball towards goal only to be denied through a slight deflection by a Sydney Olympic defender.

Taiga Soeda decided that he would lead like a captain and midway through the first stanza of play unleashed a rocket that was deflected wickedly by a Blacktown defender and Nenad Vekic made a scrambling save to keep Blacktown ahead.

Sydney Olympic did nevertheless score on the half hour mark when a beautiful cross by Nikolas Tsattalios reached Harris Gaitatzis who clinically put the ball in the back of the net for the home side. It was a great finish and worthy of a goal.

Right on the stroke of halftime Blacktown City should really have taken the lead again when Major fired on goal but Paul Henderson beautifully turned the ball away for a corner.

The sides went into the break all square in what was a true reflection of the closeness of the first stanza of play.

Early in the second half Major again should have put the visitors ahead when from close range he brought out the best in Henderson who made an instinctive, reflex save.

Dimitri Hatzimouratis from close range on an angle should really then have put the home side ahead but Vekic was alert enough to save the day for Blacktown City as the tight contest early in the second half continued.

This was turning into a game of attrition on the field and, as the BBQ was going at the bottom of the grandstand, it was also one of nutrition for the hardy souls who braved the cold midweek weather.

Jonathan Grozdanovski, a second half replacement for Blacktown City, fired a powerful diagonal shot from the right for the visitors to no avail.

Zachary Cairncross late in the game beautifully played a ball forward for Connor Evans who, on the run, just chipped over the crossbar in what was indeed a close call for Sydney Olympic who were at sixes and sevens in defence at just that moment.

Two minutes later a nice run into the box by Mallia finished with a shot just wide of the mark as he slipped at the crucial moment when getting his shot away.

By now there was not much hope of the game finishing within the allotted 90 minutes and as expected extra time was called upon.

In the early stages of extra time Blacktown City finally broke the deadlock when a cross from the right by Major reached an unmarked Evans in the box and he simply had to tap the ball home from close range to beat Henderson.

After the game the coach of Sydney Olympic Grant Lee wasn’t too sure if the correct onside call had been made by the officials in awarding the goal.

“It comes down to a decision and it’s hard to say because we haven’t got the benefit of a replay,” he stated.

“There’s no review and we’ll accept a close call even though just before halftime we had the ball in the back of the net and it was close too but called offside.”

Sydney Olympic played a series of scrambling and nervous attempts at Blacktown City’s goal in a desperate attempt to equalise and the best of them was definitely by Ryan Keir who had just entered the field of play. His shot on the stroke of halftime in extra time was an absolute rocket from distance that skidded off the grass and just wide of goal.

The second half of extra time started off in much the same fashion with Sydney Olympic throwing everything but the kitchen sink at their adversaries but credit must go to the Blacktown City defence who desperately held on and threw their tired bodies at everything that Olympic could muster.

“We played very well and dominated parts of the game but it’s disappointing to lose in a semi-final,” Grant Lee said. “I know we played well and of course I am disappointed but good luck to Blacktown even though it’s very hard still to lose in such an important game.”

Match Stats

Sydney Olympic           1         

(H.Gaitatzis 30’)

Blacktown City FC        2                     

(Major 9’, Evans 95’)

Wednesday 17^th June

Belmore Sports Ground

Sydney Olympic: Henderson, Angel (78’ M.Gaitatzis), Tsattalios, Eggar, Soeda, Hooper, Spyrakis, H.Gaitatzis, Sorge, Go Shirai, Hatzimouratis (104’ Keir).

Substitutes not used: Nil

Yellow Cards: Spyrakis 58’, Hooper 82’

Red Cards: Nil

Blacktown City FC: Vekic, Fragogiannis, Mallia (104’ Perre), Macura (85’ Araujo), Evans, Cairncross, Perkatis, Major (114’ Beumie), Speranza, Antelmi (58’ Grozdanovski), Lewis.

Substitutes not used: Nil

Yellow Cards: Antelmi 33’, Perkatis 115’, Perre 116’

Red Cards: Nil

-by Joe Russo, Waratah Cup Reporter, at Belmore Sports Ground.