It was a perfect start to the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s season for Sydney Olympic FC and its Portuguese coach Jamie Monroy as they claimed a 2-0 win against Bonnyrigg White Eagles at at Bonnyrigg Sports Ground.
The depleted White Eagles had no answer for Japanese star attacker Yu Kubuki who grabbed a brace while impressive performances for Mitchell Stamatellis and Will Angel helped the visitors collect all three points.
With a number of key players injured for Bonnyrigg,, the Blues controlled much of the game with Paul Henderson rarely getting tested.
Olympic were on the front foot from the get go and after three minutes Jinya An hit a powerful effort that stung the palms of Stevan Savicic.
On 11 minutes, Olympic should’ve hit the front as Kuboki broke into the box, only to send his low shot wide of the target.
With 25 minutes on the clock, Olympic had the lead.
A long ball over the top of the Bonnyrigg defence had Kuboki in again and this time he didn’t miss, scooping the ball over the top of the young Bonnyrigg keeper.
Two minutes before the break Olympic doubled their advantage.
The White Eagle’s defence was split by a fantastic ball from Max Burgess for Radovan Pavicevic.
Pavicevic did well to beat his defender and shoot low toward the far post, only for Savicic to make a good save.
However, Kuboki was ‘Johnny on the spot, arriving late and tapping the rebound home.
Olympic were good for their lead as they went into the break with a two-goal advantage.
A couple of changes at the break from the White Eagles saw a much-improved outfit in the second period.
In the 72nd minute, the home side had an ideal chance just outside the box from a set piece.
New White Eagles recruit Thomas Shaw stepped up to the ball, sending it inches wide of the post.
Kubuki almost had his hat-trick on 75 minutes but his speculative volley was well held by Savicic.
A deep free kick from the home side with eight minutes remaining saw Zach Mackenzie challenge Paul Henderson for the ball.
The keeper’s punched clearance fell to the feet of Greg Kondek who rushed his effort wide of the goal.
Olympic did well to hold the ball throughout most of the fixture and frustrate the White Eagles, comfortably bringing the game to a close.
Monroy was pleased with his team’s first up victory as well as his maiden win as new coach of the former NSL giants.
“It was a difficult match, we knew we wanted to control the match from the start and that’s why we scored two goals,” he said.
“They are a strong team, very physical.
“Game by game we have to maintain the same performance as the first half
“Our aim is to finish in the top 3. These matches aren’t easy and if we treat every game as a final we will have a good result I think.
Despite having a large number of players out, Brian Brown wasn’t looking for any excuses for the defeat.
“There is nothing you can do about injuries, they aren’t caused by what we do at training it’s just bad luck. They’re in key positions and it sort of weakens the team but what can you do.
“We don’t have players to fit in to how we want to play.
“We have to play with what we’ve got.
“What we changed at half time made us look that little bit more competitive and I think that’s how we’ll set up going forward.
“But credit to them, they played well.”
Match Stats
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0
Sydney Olympic 2 (Kuboki 25’, 43’)
Saturday March 11, 2017
Bonnyrigg Sports Ground, Bonnyrigg
Referee: A. Arndt
Assistant Referees: L. Greenshields & M. McOrist
Fourth Official: C. Wright
Bonnyrigg White Eagles: 20. Stevan Savicic, 3. David Vrankovic, 5. Adam Jenner (18. Hassan Jalloh 65’), 6. Zach Mackenzie, 8. Troy Danaskos, 10. Martin Lo (27. Luke Ivanovic 46’), 12. Mun-Soo Gil, 13. James McKenzie (7. Gregory Kondek 46’), 15. Ray Miller, 16. Sam Gallaway, 19. Thomas Shaw.
Substitutes Not Used: 14. Taylor McDonald, 77. Maxie Rowston.
Yellow Cards: 6. Zach Mackenzie 38’, J. McKenzie 45’, 15. Ray Miller 90+1’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1. Paul Henderson, 5. Yianni Spyrakis, 6. Mitchell Stamatellis, 7. William Angel, 8. Jason Madonis, 9. Radovan Pavicevic (23. Tass Mourdoukoutas 83’), 11. Jinya An (33. Nikolas Tsattalios 63’_, 12. Yu Kuboki, 14. Max Burgess, 19. Darcy Burgess, 99. Paul Katsetis (25. Mark Rodic 63’).
Substitutes Not Used: 4. Tom Whiteside, 20. Ezequiel Consoni.
Yellow Cards: 11. An 39’, 7. Angel 76’, 6. Stamattelis 82’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Yu Kuboki (SO)
2 – Mitchell Stamatellis (SO)
1 – Will Angel (SO)
– Nikola Pozder
Leave a Reply