Olympic claim vital victory over White Eagles
Sydney Olympic has claimed a 4-1 win against Bonnyrigg White Eagles during their PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Heritage Round clash at Belmore Sports Ground.
Two late goals to Radovan Pavicevic and Jason Madonis in added time wrapped up the three points for Olympic after the match was evenly balanced at 2-1 going into the final seconds of the game.
Madonis had earlier opened the scoring before Olympic doubled its lead when Yu Kuboki struck with 25 minutes left to play. A goal from Bonnyrigg defender Sam Gallaway brought Brian Brown’s team back into the match heading into the match’s final stages.
However, Bonnyrigg were unable to deliver during the final ten minutes of the match as Olympic struck twice to secure all three competition points.
The win cements Olympic’s position in the top five while Bonnyrigg’s resurgence faces yet another speed bump
Bonnyrigg was on the attack right from the opening whistle.
In the 4th minute the visitors had a golden chance when Hassan Jalloh fed a lovely ball through to Luke Ivanovic who found himself solo in front of goal. However, Ivanovic’s on-target shot was well turned over the crossbar by Paul Henderson.
In the 14th minute Bonnyrigg White Eagles were at it again. A ball from the right made its way to Jalloh who charged towards goal only to fire just wide of target. There was an almost immediate reply from Sydney Olympic at the other end when Sebastian Malfara fired just wide of goal in what was the first chance of the encounter for Sydney Olympic.
In the 20th minute an in-swinging free kick by Jinya An reached the head of Pavicevic who headed just over for the home side.
The last real action of the first stanza of play arrived on the half hour mark when a long free kick from the left found Nikola Zonjic. Zonjic, with some assistance from David Vrankovic, volleyed the ball into the net but the assistant referee ruled that it was offside to spoil the party for the visitors.
After a scoreless first half, the second half couldn’t have been any more different.
An spectacular chance arrived in the 48th minute when a clever chip from the right by Pavicevic hit the crossbar.
The opening goal arrived shortly after for Sydney Olympic. A long cross from the left by Will Angel was flicked on in the 53rd minute by Yu Kuboki who headed the ball into the far side of the net past an outstretched James Chronopoulos.
In the 63rd minute Sydney Olympic doubled their lead when a long ball forward found Jason Madonis, who then delightfully chipped the goalkeeper with a majestic finish.
Bonnyrigg White Eagles hit back immediately when a shot from outside the box by Samuel Gallaway caught ‘keeper Henderson in two minds. His powerful shot forced the veteran shot stopper to fumble the ball before it crept over the line. It was now game on again.
In the 86th minute, Asmir Kadric, who finally made his comeback from a long term injury, tried his luck as he skipped past a defender only to find that Henderson was ready with a low-down save to deny the visitors an equaliser.
Then the scoreline blew out when two late goals stretched Sydney Olympic’s tally to four. In the 91st minute Madonis played a square ball to Pavicevic and he made no mistake in front of goal.
In the 93rd minute the roles were reversed from provider to scorer. Goalkeeper Chronopoulos saved just under crossbar, but only as far as Pavicevic on the right who played it back into Madonis who scored his second of the afternoon.
After the game Sydney Olympic’s coach Peter Zorbas was delighted to have secured the full tally of points.
“The end result was fantastic,” he said.
“The first half wasn’t great at all and I just wanted to go in at 0-0 so that I could change the system which in the end changed the game.
“We started with a 4-3-3 but with Bonnyrigg playing two up front, I decided to change it to 3-4-3 and it changed the whole game.
“In the second half we were a lot more positive with a lot more positive play and plenty of balls into the box. In the end four goals speak for themselves.”
Bonnyrigg White Eagles coach Brian Brown was philosophical about another disappointing loss.
“It sums up our season,” he said.
“They converted all their chances and we didn’t convert ours. In the first half we had enough good chances to be in front but we just conceded some bad goals in the second half.
“They had a ten-minute spell in the second half where they scored two goals, plus then they scored two very, very late goals but the margin wasn’t a true reflection of the difference. It was much closer than that out there.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic FC 4
(Kuboki 53’, Madonis 63’ & 93’, Pavicevic 91’)
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 1
(Gallaway 64’)
Sunday 28th May 2017
Belmore Sports Ground
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Joon Park, Jack Bell
Fourth Official: Toby Plasto
SYDNEY OLYMPIC: 1. Paul Henderson, 4. Thomas Whiteside, 7. William Angel, 8. Jason Madonis, 9. Radovan Pavicevic, 11. Jinya An, 12. Yu Kuboki (10. Peter Makrillos 82’), 15. Sebastian Malfara (6. Mitchell Stamatellis 46’), 19. Darcy Burgess (25. Liam Youlley 46’), 23. Tass Mourdoukoutas, 24. Hagi Gligor.
Substitutes not used: 33. Nick Tsattalios
Yellow Cards: Madonis 28’, Kuboki 67’
Red Cards: Nil
BONNYRIGG WHITE EAGLES: 1. James Chronopoulos, 3. David Vrankovic. 7. Gregory Kondek (13. James McKenzie 76’), 11. Benjamin Spruce (8. Troy Danaskos 67’), 12. Mun-Soo Gil, 14. Taylor McDonald, 16. Samuel Gallaway, 21. Hassan Jalloh, 27. Luke Ivanovic (18. Asmir Kadric 65’), 36. Nikola Zonjic, 37. Shervin Adeli.
Substitutes not used: 20. Stevan Savicic, 28. Nikola Krjar
Yellow Cards: Kondek 44’, McKenzie 87’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3. Jason Madonis (OLY)
2. Radovan Pavicevic (OLY)
1. Sam Gallaway (BWE)
-by Joe Russo, PlayStation®National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s 1 Reporter, at Belmore Sports Ground
