Wolves break Olympic hearts in late drama
Wollongong Wolves have opened their NPL NSW Men’s Premiership defence with a 2-1 win over Sydney Olympic at Belmore Sportsground on Sunday.
A Bul Jauch goal in the dying stages helped the Luke Wilkshire coached side to victory with the contest seemingly headed for a draw.
Lachlan Scott gave the Wolves the perfect start with a 10th minute strike but Olympic found an equaliser courtesy of Jason Madonis just after the restart.
But with time running down the Wolves youngster delivered for his side when it matters most to secure all three points.
Wollongong took an early lead in the first half, as Lachlan Scott capitalized on a blunder from Olympic goalkeeper Anthony Bouzanis in the 10th minute.
Olympic retaliated early in the second half through a blazing strike from Jason Madonis, but the visitors secured the win late in the game with an 89th minute goal from substitute Bul Juach.
Olympic had a golden opportunity to make an early impact in the game as Jason Madonis played a stellar ball to Charles Lokolingoy in the 4th minute.
Lokolingoy pulled veteran keeper Justin Pasfield out of position before playing the ball to Adam Parkhouse, whose shot was blocked by Nicholas Littler.
The first goal of the match came in the 10th minute after Bouzanis dropped the ball and stumbled over teammate Zachary Mackenzie, leaving Scott in the perfect position to collect the ball and tap it into an open goal.
Olympic fired back after the half-time break, with Raul Beneit Romero setting up a perfect opportunity for Jason Madonis in the 48th minute.
The Spaniard worked his way into prime position just outside the penalty area and passed the ball back to Madonis who fired a powerful shot past Pasfield to equalise.
The pace of the game changed dramatically after the equalizer, as both teams seemed to find their rhythm and kick into gear.
Adam Parkhouse curled a brilliant ball towards goal in the 75th minute, however veteran keeper Pasfield pulled off a great save to deny the hosts the lead.
Olympic was knocking on the door for another goal moments later with Lokolingoy making a speedy run past Nicola Djordjevic and cutting to Parkhouse in the 78th minute, put Parkhouse’s shot flew outside the sticks.
Juach secured the win for the visitors in the final minutes of the game, tapping in a goal from a corner.
Olympic coach Terry Palapanis was disappointed his side couldn’t take more from the match after boosting their impact in the second half.
“The disappointing part of the match for me was conceding two really soft goals,” he explained.
“We saw a few issues in the first half that we addressed and fair play to the boys, they came out in the second half and followed instructions quite well.
“We had a bit of a higher footprint and created some chances and I thought we had enough chances to win the game.”
Wollongong coach Luke Wilkshire was disappointed his side didn’t reach their full potential during the match, despite securing the win.
“That’s probably two of the ugliest goals that we’ve scored since I’ve been here,” he said.
“We were nowhere near as good as we can be, so that was disappointing.
“It was tough conditions for both teams but it’s a sign of a good team when you can win when you’re not playing well.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic FC 1 (Jason Madonis 48’)
Wollongong Wolves 2 (Lachlan Scott 10’, Bul Juach 89’)
Sunday 1st March 2020
Belmore Sportsground
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistant Referees: Scott Edeling and Cailyn Coveday
Fourth Official: Dan Alter
Sydney Olympic FC: 1. Anthony Bouzanis, 2. Thomas Whiteside, 6. Nicola Kuleski, 7. William Angel, 8. Jason Madonis (19. Darcy Burgess 83’), 9. Bai Antoniou, 10. Raul Beneit Romero, 11. Adam Parkhouse, 12. Zachary Mackenzie, 17. Charles Lokolingoy (33. Nikolas Tsattalios 89’), 22. Fabio Ferreira (14. Peter Kekeris 77’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Nicholas Sorras, , 37. Theph Theph
Yellow Cards: Nicola Kuleski 15’, Jason Madonis 70’, Will Angel 70’
Red Cards: Nil
Wollongong Wolves: 1. Justin Pasfield, 3. Darcy Madden, 4. Nicola Djordjevic, 7. Christopher Price, 9. Thomas James, 10. Marcus Beattie (19. Bul Juach 60’), 11. Takeru Okada, 15. Nicholas Littler, 16. Guy Knight, 17. James Stojcevski (8. Brendan Griffin 45’) 24. Lachlan Scott (14. Harry Callahan 77’)
Substitutes Not Used: 2. Taylor McDonald, 23. Hayden Durose
Yellow Cards: James Stojevski 34’, Lachlan Scott 60’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Nicholas Littler (WW)
2 – Jason Madonis (SO)
1 – Marcus Beattie (WW)
