Sharks thwarted by Olympic comeback
A sensational second-half salvo from Sydney Olympic saw the Blues come from behind to defeat Sutherland Sharks 3-1 in their PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s round 11 contest at Belmore Sports Ground.
Tomihiro Kajiyama’s opening half strike looked to have set up a happy comeback to Belmore for returning Olympic talisman Grant Lee, but three unanswered second half goals from Yu Kuboki, Radovan Pavicevic and Jinya An saw Olympic breeze to their sixth win of the campaign.
The visitors will lament their second half implosion which leaves the struggling side in eleventh position ahead of next weekend’s battle of the beaches against Manly United, especially with Lee’s men enjoying a comfortable 1-0 lead at the half-time break having repelled Olympic successfully for the opening forty-five minutes.
It was Kajiyama’s ability to be in the right moment at the right time that saw the visitors break the deadlock ten minutes before half-time. An excellent piece of close control and cross from Josh Da Silva squeezed through a line of Olympic bodies before the ball was emphatically hammered home by Kajiyama.
Sutherland were untroubled for much of the half but the Blues spurned a good chance to restore parity on the cusp of half-time when Jason Madonis ended a superb burst from the right by tricking his way to the byline but the fullback’s cross to the back post was sent into the side netting by William Angel.
Although Olympic had flattered to deceive in the first half the contest was turned on its head when the hosts were awarded a penalty after a cynical collision from Nicholas Littler on Blues flyer Sebastian Malfara in the area.
Yu Kuboki confidently dispatched the spot kick down the centre to bring the scores level, and it got even better for the hosts minutes later when a superb run and cross from Nikita Andricopoulos was swept home with conviction by Olympic frontman Radovan Pavicevic.
Olympic made it three in nine minutes when Hagi Gligor robbed the Sutherland backline on the edge of the box and turned in another excellent delivery into the box that was turned home by Jinya An.
Sutherland manager Grant Lee mourned a terrible second half spell following the match but said his players are showing enough positive signs to turn around their season around.
“The first half was really good, we deserved the lead.
“We came out into the second and invited trouble and there was nine minutes of madness, all starting with the penalty which was completely avoidable.
“It’s by far a mental thing, we start living in the past and the doubt creeps in and we start feeling sorry for ourselves.
“There are some really nice things about the squad, we play some nice football and if we get a little tougher mentally we will get things back on track.
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 3 (Kuboki 55’, Pavicevic 60’, An 64’)
Sutherland Sharks 1 (Kajiyama 35’)
Sunday 21 May, 2017
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Sydney Olympic: 11. Jinya An, 7. William Angel, 19. Darcy Burgess, 24. Christopher Gligor, 1. Paul Henderson, 12. Yu Kuboki, 8. Jason Madonis, 15. Sebastian Malfara (16. Nikita Andricopoulos 56’), 23. Tass Mourdoukoutas, 9. Radovan Pavicevic, 4. Thomas Whiteside
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Ezequiel Consoni, 25. Mark Rodic, 6. Mitchell Stamatellis, 13. Yahya Ethindi
Yellow Cards: N/A
Red Cards: N/A
Sutherland Sharks: 3. Taku Murayama, 4. Steve Gomes, 5. Nick Littler, 6. Matthew Gordon, 9. Tomihiro Kajiyama, 10. Josh Da Silva, 11. Nathan Elasi, 12. Blair Brown, 13. Jeremy Cox (7. Jack Press 67’), 14. Patrick O’Shea (8. Chris McStay 67’), 21. Nicholas Loe
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Nathan Denham, 19. Callum Fitzpatrick, 13. Kevin Lopes
Yellow Cards: 6. Matthew Gordon 55’
Red Cards: N/A
Player Ratings
3 – Thomas Whiteside (SO)
2 – Jinya An (SO)
1 – Jason Madonis (SO)
-By PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Jacob Windon
