Eagles come from behind to snare points

Parramatta FC has found its winning ways once again with an impressive 3-1 victory in its PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s clash with Sydney Olympic at Melita Stadium on Saturday.
Goals to Gosue Sama, Marco Sama and Ibrahim Haydar helped Parramatta come back from 1-0 down and end its recent run of defeats.
The star of the night though was Parramatta shot stopper Luke Turnbull who made a number of huge saves for the home side to keep them in the match.
Despite being on the road, Sydney Olympic was not going to sit back and defend.
Nick Tsattalios and William Angel sparked the crowd in the fourth minute with a slick one two before being foiled by Parramatta keeper Turnbull.
Albeit an open match, Olympic and Parramatta resorted to long balls with the middle of the park becoming a battle of attrition between each side’s midfield.
After 18 minutes a massive roar went up when Mitchell Stamatellis appeared to bring down Marco Sama inside the box but play was waved on.
Lead by Ibrahim Haydar and Tom Mallet, Parramatta’s defence was impenetrable as Olympic attempted to play through the middle of the park.
It was the visitors who nearly took the lead in the 29th minute after a mix up in the Parramatta defence.
Shot stopper Turnbull attempted to take hold of a looping ball into the box only for Mallett to head it past him with Parramatta fans nervously watching on as the ball trickled wide.
It was Turnbull who kept the game scoreless when he denied Angel with 10 minutes to go in the first half.
Olympic broke free and chipped the ball onto to the eager head of Will Angel who looked to the sky in disbelief when Turnbull tipped it over the bar.
Turnbull’s heroics saved Parramatta again seconds later when he made a reflex stop with his legs to once again deny Angel.
It wasn’t all one-way traffic as the Eagles returned fire immediately when Ante Tomic centred the perfect ball for Andreas Vais to head agonizingly wide in the 41st minute.
Olympic keeper Paul Henderson pulled off a magnificent save in the dying stages of the first half when he palmed a headed effort over the bar to ensure both sides went to the sheds locked at 0-0.
The addition of Jacob Boutoubia sparked Olympic in the second Stanza and the front man forced Turnbull into another amazing piece of keeping early in the half.
In the 58th minute it was Boutoubia who broke the deadlock when he angled his shot past the outstretched arms of Turnbull to make it 1-0 for Olympic.
Less than two-minutes later Parramatta were back on level pegging thanks to a classy header from Gosue Sama.
Aram Tayebi-Derezkala skipped a tackle on the left and delivered a delicious cross for Gosue Sama to head expertly past an exposed Henderson.
Olympic never recovered and found themselves under increasing pressure.
Ten minutes later and Parramatta took the lead courtesy of Marco Sama.
Sama superbly found space inside the box before firing home with his left peg to make it 2-1.
The turn-around was completed with an early birthday present for Ibrahim Haydar.
Haydar kept his cool to finish from inside the penalty area after being set up by a slick Marco Sama pass to ice the game and secure the victory for Parramatta.
A shell shocked Olympic coach Grant Lee said his side needed to display more intensity after scoring.
“After we scored we stopped playing. We threw the game away,” he said.
“We thought we had done enough. All the pressure we built up was worth nothing because we stopped playing after we scored.
“It seems that some players don’t know how to hang on to a lead and how to grind out a result when you need to. The way we switched off tonight was criminal.
A relieved Frank Consentino said conceding early in the second half was the wake-up call his players needed.
“Their goal was probably the best thing for us,” he said.
“When we hit our first goal the boys grew in confidence because we haven’t been finding the net too often this season.
“This is a good bunch of lads who are working hard for me week-in and week-out and I’m proud of their performance tonight.”
Match Stats
Parramatta Eagles  3 (G.Sama 60’, M.Sama 67’, Haydar 84’)
Sydney Olympic 1  ( Boutoubia 58’)
Saturday, April 16 2016
Melita Stadium, Granville
Referee: Ben Abraham
Assistant Referees: Daniel Horsted & Joon Park
Fourth Official: Adam Vanauskus
Parramatta FC: 1. TURNBULL Luke, 4. SYMONS Joshua ©, 6. GULLO Dan, 8. REZO Daniel (19. BROWN Blair 90’), 9. SAMA Gosue 10. SAMA Marco (17. GERSBACH Joshua 88’), 11. TOMIC Ante, 13. VAIS Andreas (7. MARTEY Frank 74’), 18. MALLET Tom, 20. HAYDAR Ibrahim, 23. TAYEBI-DEREZKALA Aram
Substitutes Not Used: 14. GRIMA Luke, 23. DIACONO Jayden
Yellow Cards: 9. SAMA Gosue 73’, 10. SAMA Marco 79’,
Red Cards:
Sydney Olympic: 1. HENDERSON Paul, 2. SORGE Brayden (5. MADONIS Jason 66’), 3. TOMELIC Anthony, 6. STAMATELLIS Mitchell, 7. ANGEL William, 8. FONDYKE Howard © (4. EGGER Leigh 83’), 9. TRIANTIS Chris, 10. GAITATZIS Harris, 16. GREEN Oliver, 22. GATATZIS Michael, 33. TSATTALIOS Niko (11. BOUTOUBIA Jacob 46’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. CRICKMORE Denver, 37. MONTFORD Eoin
Yellow Cards: 3. TOMELIC 44’,10. GAITATZIS Harris 80’
Red Cards:
Player Ratings
3 – Luke Turnbull (PE)
2 – Ibrahim Haydar (PE)
1 – William Angel (SO)
-By Micky Brock