Sydney United 58 has cruised to a 3-1 win against Sydney Olympic at Sydney United Sports Centre on Sunday as the Reds sent yet another warning out to its fellow competitors they mean business.
The traditional rivals battled intensely for the opening hour before United 58 blew the game wide open with three quick fire goals.
United 58’s inspirational skipper Adrian Vlastelica opened the scoring shortly before red-hot striker Patrick Antelmi doubled the hosts’ advantage.
Experienced striker Chris Payne made his presence felt off the bench after assisting Antelmi, scoring his own in the 75th minute.
Mo Adam scored a sensational solo goal in the dying stages of the game, in what would only be a consolation as Sydney United 58 walked away with a comfortable win.
Matt Sim had the first real chance of the game when United 58 was awarded a free-kick just outside the box, his curling effort went just over the bar.
Olympic threw themselves in the mix for an opener but were denied several times within a minute after the valiant United 58 defence blocked shots from Daniel Dias and Oliver Puflett.
Brendan Cholakian had the ball land to him from the final deflection but was unable to test keeper Daniel Nizic.
Sim came closest for the hosts in the first half after weaving his way through traffic and opening up the angle for a shot. His effort was denied by the outstretched hands of Chris Parsons
The game was tied 0-0 heading into the break.
Tomi Vidovic’s men opened the second half looking more dangerous.
They came close to an opener shortly after the resumption of play, Devante Clut played a well-timed ball through to Christian Gonzalez, his piercing shot stung the hands of Parsons and was defused by the Olympic defence.
The hosts were gifted the opener after Parsons spilled the ball from a cross as it fell to Vlastelica who neatly buried his chance.
Olympic was not disheartened by the goal and came within inches of an equaliser shortly after.
Fabio Ferreira powerfully struck a half volley which looked destined to find the top corner, Nizic used all of his power to get a fingertip to it and save his side’s lead.
Ferreira continued in pursuit of an equaliser shortly after and was denied again, this time by a wall of United 58 defenders from the edge of the box, they were strong appeals for a handball but they were quickly dismissed as United 58 went on the attack.
The hosts had their second not too long after this when Antelmi made a blistering break down the line and found himself one-on-one with Parsons. He turned on the keeper and found Chris Payne open in the middle of the box with an open net in front of him as he netted the second of the afternoon.
It all began to become undone for Olympic after Daniel Dias’ pass from the back was intercepted by Payne. He busted through on goal, this time he repaid the favour to Antelmi gifting him the ball with a clean look at goal giving United 58 their third. With that goal Antelmi notched up double-digits for the 2021 season going joint top of the golden boot tally with 10.
Olympic’s confidence was shot after this and took them a while to regain their footing. They found consolation through Mo Adam in the 85th minute. Adam made a spectacular solo run through the United defence before burying his shot, ending United 58’s chance at a clean sheet.
Ante Juric credited the tough United 58 outfit but was disappointed with his side’s defence errors
“Obviously they’re a very good team, they dominated a lot of the passages, the first half we kept them out, then in the second half we slept for five minutes and copped three goals,” Juric said.
“Away from home you can’t do that, all three goals probably came from our mistakes.
“I was happy with the spirit but not the performance, I thought we were solid until the mistakes, we created a few chances, we probably had the better chances in the first”.
Sydney United 58 Coach Tomi Vidovic was pleased with his side’s outing.
“It was a very good performance it was comprehensive and thoroughly deserved victory,” he said
“Defensively we’ve been very solid now for the last six games, that’s an important foundation for us going forward”.
Match Stats
Sydney United 58 FC 3 ( Vlastelica 56’, Antelmi 70’, Payne 75’)
Sydney Olympic FC 1 (Adam 85’)
Sunday, 16th May 2021
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: Craig Fisher
Assistant Referees: P. Ibleki & A. Hosnani
Fourth Official: A. Naji
Sydney United 58 FC: 1. Daniel Nizic, 2. Christian Gonzalez, 4. Adrian Vlastelica, 7. Jackson Khoury, 8. Matthew Sim, 9. Patrick Antelmi, 10. Devante Clut (6. Christopher Payne), 14. Andreas Agamemnonos (15. Traiq Maia), 16. Jacob Poscoliero, 18. Glen Trifiro, 22. Yianni Fragogiannis (3. Jordan Roberts).
Substitutes not used: 21. Josip Orlovic, , 23. Luke Vlastelica.
Yellow Cards: nil
Red Cards: nil
Sydney Olympic FC: 70. Christopher Parsons, 2. Thomas Whiteside, 4. Benjamin van Meurs, 5. Michael Glassock, 9. Oliver Puflett (35. Mohamed Adam), 10. Brendan Cholakian (21. Fabian Monge), 11. Adam Parkhouse (18. Yu Hasegawa), 22. Fabio Ferreira, 23. Daniel Dias (17. Marley Peterson), 24. Christopher Gligor. 39. Peter Politis.
Substitutes not used: 6. Nicola Kuleski, , 20. Luke Kairies,
Yellow Cards: nil
Red Cards: ni
Player Ratings
3 – Patrick Antelmi (SU)
2 – Adrian Vlastelica (SU)
1:- Christopher Payne (SU)
By National Premier Leagues NSW reporter Dominic Criniti (@DominicCriniti)