Sydney Olympic Rein In Their Premiership Intentions After Downing the Sharks
Sydney Olympic has silenced Sutherland Sharks with a 3-1 victory at Belmore Sportsground on Sunday afternoon to keep their Premiership hopes alive
Two goals to Spanish striker Alejandro Sanchez and one to Max Burgess cancelled out one from Sutherland’s Adrian Vranic to secure the victory for the home side.
Sanchez found the net after 30 minutes to opening the scoring and give the home side a 1-0 lead at the break before doubling his tally early in the second stanza.
Vranic pulled one back in the 60th minute but it wasn’t to be for the Sharks as Burgess wrapped up the win with a goal only eight minutes later.
The result means Olympic stays locked on equal points with league leaders but stay in second due to their inferior goal difference.
After a slow start to the match, Sutherland brought out the best of Olympic custodian Paul Henderson in the 15th minute.
Lachlan Everett fired a shot from outside the box which would have seen Sutherland take the lead if not for Henderson’s fast feet, which saw him deflect the shot high over the crossbar.
After settling into the game, Olympic saw their first real opportunity in the 28th minute with a quality display of teamwork to manoeuvre their way through a tight Sutherland defence.
The ball fell to Radovan Pavicevic in front of goal, but the attacker wasn’t able to get the shot off.
Jason Madonis had another opportunity to take the lead for the blues just moments later, firing a shot from 20 yards to see it soar over the crossbar.
It wouldn’t be long until Olympic would capitalise on their opportunities, with the home team taking the lead in the 31st minute.
Riley Woodcock came in from the flank to pass the ball to Pavicevic, who flicked it on to Sanchez to finish with a tap-in.
Sanchez had an opportunity to double the lead moments later, with Pavicevic making a speedy run to get clear of Sutherland’s defence before passing it through to Sanchez who sent the shot sliding past the sticks.
Nick Olsen gave the hosts a scare in the 39th minute, letting off a shot which dribbled wide of goal.
Olympic came out firing after the break and it wasn’t long until they would extend their lead.
Pavicevic sent the ball the Spaniard in the perfect position who slid it past Ryan Norval to take it to two in the 58th minute.
Sutherland capitalised on a free kick in the 60th minute, sending the ball into the box where amongst a scuffle, Vranic was able to slide the ball into the net past a stunned Henderson.
Olympic retaliated in the 68th minute, with Sanchez securing the ball inside the box and passing it off to Max Burgess who fired it home to take Olympic to three.
Olympic coach Abbas Saad expressed his pleasure in another win for his side.
“We played well. We’re probably back to our damaging best especially in the creative department, we created a lot of chances today.”
“I’m probably disappointed we didn’t score more goals
“Sutherland had a go at us. They were competitive with us.
“When we got going and got our first goal you could see we our got our confidence and were starting to play better.”
Sutherland Sharks coach, Grant Lee, was disappointed that his side couldn’t maintain the momentum they established early in the first half.
“We just haven’t had the depth in the squad to sustain our early momentum, which we were doing in the first half of the season.
“In saying that you look at the game today, until they scored their goal, we really had them on the ropes a little bit.
“All of a sudden they scored the goal and then it was a different game after that.
“If you keep making mistakes you’re going to get punished against the better sides which is what happened today unfortunately.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic FC 3 (Alejandro Sanchez Lopez 31’, 58’, Max Burgess 68’)
Sutherland Sharks 1 (Adrian Vranic 60’)
Sunday 29th July , 2018
Belmore Sportsground
Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Assistant Referees: A. Vainauskas, R. Osbourne
Fourth Official: S. Andrews
Sydney Olympic FC: 1. Paul Henderson, 2. Thomas Whiteside, 5. James Demetriou (33. Nikolas Tsattalios), 7. William Angel, 8. Jason Madonis, 9. Radovan Pavicevic, 10. Max Burgess (19. Darcy Burgess), 11. Jinya An (18. Brendan Hooper), 12. Zachary Mackenzie, 14. Alejandro Sanchez Lopez, 23. Riley Woodcock
Substitutes not used: 6. Nikola Kuleski, 20. Ezequiel Consoni
Yellow Cards: Jason Madonis 64’, Nikolas Tsattalios 77’
Red Cards: Nil
Sutherland Sharks: 1. Ryan Norval, 2. Jacob Tratt, 5. Bradley Bartels, 6. Lachlan Everett, 8. Evan Patramanis, 9. Adrian Vranic (3. Richie Stewart), 12. Blair Brown (6. Harry Sutherland), 16. Ryoga Suyama, 17. Leroy Jennings, 20. Keisuke Hayashi, 22. Nicholas Olsen
Substitutes not used: 7. Stephen Kayes, 11. Hristijan Tanoski, 21. Nikolas Loe
Yellow Cards: Bradley Bartels 90’
Red Cards: Nil
By National Premier Leagues NSW reporter Madelien Riley
