White Eagles create storm of their own against Sydney Olympic

It didn?t take long for the match to intensify with former Bonnyrigg player Bobby Dragas elbowing striker Almir Dizdaric in the face, an incident that didn?t see a free-kick awarded, but saw Dizdaric seeing red after blood poured down his face.
Olympic appeared to be the first team on the scoreboard from a corner, but the referee was quick to blow the whistle and deny the visitors of first blood, awarding the White Eagles a free-kick.
However the boys from Bonnyrigg weren?t able to hold on to a clean sheet for much longer, conceding the first goal in the 10? minute.
When the ball was laid off to Matthew Mayora, all the White Eagles defenders could do was watch and admire as the striker drilled his shot low, hard and past the outstretched goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead.
That would be the last time Olympic would threaten the Bonnyrigg goal for the rest of the first period
It didn?t take long for the home side to hit back, with a scramble in the goal mouth allowing Nikola Zonjic to get boot to ball and send it into the back of the net to level the scores in the 13? minute.
In the last 20? minutes of play Bonnyrigg began to hit their straps, attacking the Olympic goal on several occasions, despite lacking the execution to penetrate goal.
With 13? minutes remaining before the break, the White Eagles had a golden opportunity to head into the sheds with a one goal advantage ? if only their players would take a shot instead of passing around the penalty-area.
Fredrick Graham showed off his fancy footwork to beat three Blues defenders, but unfortunately for the Bonnyrigg faithful, his left foot shot went straight to Olympic shot-stopper Michael Turnbull.
Graham was in the thick of the action, creating havoc this time down the left edge to whip a cross into Dizdaric who failed to side foot a shot past the goalkeeper, squandering a golden chance.
The second-half began the same way the first ended, with Bonnyrigg on the attack.
The biggest cheer of the night came when former White Eagle Dragas got hand to ball, sending Dizdaric to the penalty-spot in the 53? minute.
Turnbull went the right way but Dizdaric?s shot had enough behind it to sneak between the goalkeeper?s gloves and the woodwork for his fourth goal from as many matches.
Graham was again looking to link up with Dizdaric but it wasn?t what he had in mind, as Dizdaric threw out a hand to help the ball in the net, receiving a yellow card for his troubles.
Iain Ramsay had Olympic?s first shot of the second-half but Ali Akbal was equal to the task, back-tracking to fend the ball over the post for a corner.
Anthony Doumanis came on the field and made an immediate impact for the visitors, sending the ball narrowly past the right upright with his first touch.
Graham needed no invitation to lay off for another Bonnyrigg opportunity, this time it was Milorad Simonovic who was unable to capitalise on the chance, sending his shot wide of the right-hand post.
When Bonnyrigg?s Tayfun Devrimol went to head a ball back to his goalkeeper, Doumanis was one step ahead of him, reading the play to be the first to the ball and chip the keeper to equalise against the run of play in the 72^? minute.
Fredrick Graham took his place on the bench after an injury he suffered from a heavy challenge earlier in the half, but that didn?t seem to phase the Bonnyrigg attack.
Courtesy of a free-kick, an Ilkay Gurbuz flip-on header found the competition?s leading goal scorer, Dizdaric, at the back post who headed home his fifth goal of the season to give his side a one goal buffer in the 72? minute.
Two minutes later the White Eagles put the icing on the cake with an impressive piece of play.
A long ball across field found Dizdaric out wide, this time the striker got head to ball to set up team mate Daniel Willoughby with a one-on-one with the ?keeper, making no mistake in securing the club?s first victory of season 2009.
Olympic scored a consolation goal in the fourth minute of injury-time to bring some respect back to the scoreboard, as Mayora bagged a double with a shot from a tight angle inside the box.
After the match Mayora spoke out about the disappointment of his side?s performance:
?Our side?s performance was pretty ordinary,? Mayora said.
?I will give it to the Bonnyrigg boys because they worked hard, they pulled up their socks, battled along and it was their night so congratulations to them.?
One of Bonnyrigg?s best was Nikola Zonjic, an excited man after his side?s first win of the season:
?It means a lot to us to get the monkey off the back, especially to win against a team like Olympic,?? Zonjic said.
?We conceded a few soft goals and we can work on that but then again we still scored four goals.?
Match Stats
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 4 (Zonjic 13?, Dizdaric 53?, 77?, Willoughby 79?)
Sydney Olympic 3 (Mayora 10?, 90?+4?,  Doumanis 72?)
Venue: Bonnyrigg Sports Club.
Referee: Atila Stibinger.
Assistant Referees: Alex Denzel, Lance Greenshields.
Fourth Official: Miles Allen-Scott.
Crowd: 1000 Approx.
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 23.Ali Akbal; 2.Paul Cotte, 6.Ilkay Gurbuz, 7.Nikola Zonjic, 10.Fredrick Graham (8.Daniel Willoughby 72?), 11.Almir Dizdaric (9.Eric Nyamekye 83?), 13.Nathan Rivera, 15.Steven Bozinovski, 17.Milorad Simonovic, 18.Tayfun Devrimol, 19.Antonio Faria (4.David Petrovic 23?)
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Nenad Vekic, 3.Drazen Janjic.
Yellow Cards: Almir Dizdaric 58?.
Red Cards: Nil.Sydney Olympic: 1.Michael Turnbull; 2.Bobby Dragas (6.Emmanuel Giannaras 67?), 4.Mirko Jurilj, 3.Emmanuel Zuninio, 7.Peter McPherson, 8.Paul Wither, 14.Chris Triantis (10.Anthony Doumanis 63?), 15.Matthew Mayora, 16.Jordan Simpson, 17.Iain Ramsay (18.Adam Biddle 67?), 11.Tolgay Ozbey.
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Sam Emmanouil, 19.Ken Chun.
Yellow Cards: Matthew Mayora 42?, Michael Turnbull 52?, Jordan Simpson 74?.
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 ? Almir Dizdaric (BWE)
2 ? Fredrick Graham (BWE)
1 ? Matthew Mayora (SO)
-By Michael Chammas