Wolves mauled by hungry Olympic
Sydney Olympic moved above Wollongong Wolves on the National Premier Leagues NSW ladder with a blow-out 5-1 win at Albert Butler Memorial Park on Sunday afternoon.
Olympic took the lead early on through Benjamin van Meurs before Lachlan Scott equalised for the Wolves not long after.
Michael Glassock’s goal with 10 minutes to play in the first stanza saw the away side head into the sheds in the lead.
Three second-half goals from the visitors with a brace to Mohamed Adam and a goal to Jason Madonis secured Ante Juric’s side the three points.
It was a fast start from the visitors hitting the woodwork twice in the opening couple of minutes.
A minute in, Mohamed Adam found space on the right-hand side cannoning a shot off the crossbar.
A minute later, Brendan Cholakian saw his effort from a free kick on the left clip the near post with Wolves’ shot stopper Hayden Durose left stranded.
Olympic’s pressure was rewarded in the seventh minute as Benjamin van Meurs guided a header into the far-right corner following a corner from the left.
15 minutes in, Wollongong captain Lachlan Scott restored parity, reacting fastest, stabbing a shot into the roof of the net after Nicholas Sorras failed to hold onto a freekick.
For the remainder of the half, the away side went in pursuit of taking the lead for a second time in the match.
The side came close on two occasions before in the 34th minute when Michael Glassock sent a curling shot from the left of the box into the top-right corner.
Sydney Olympic went into the break with a 2-1 lead after a promising first-half display.
Olympic carried on their momentum from the first half and with five minutes gone Adam found space centrally on the edge of the box, powering his strike past Durose.
In response to this, the home side created a few decent openings.
With 55 minutes played a marauding run from Scott down the right-hand side saw the ball cut back to Brendan Griffin on the penalty spot who dragged his effort wide of the left-hand upright.
Scott was involved again nine minutes later setting off on a similar run this time from a central position finding Nav Darjani who skewed his shot wide of the near post.
Scott once again drove forwards from a deep position this occasion opting to take on a central effort which was forced an impressive save from Sorras down to his left.
Despite this positive spell for the hosts, two late goals for the visitors sealed the deal.
With four minutes to play, a ball in from the right-hand side caused havoc inside the Wolves’ box with Adam eventually bundling the ball home.
In the 90th minute, Jason Madonis made his way into the right channel of the box, sending a composed finish into the far corner adding a fifth for Olympic.
Sydney Olympic coach Ante Juric was impressed with his side’s overall performance especially considering the quality of the Wollongong Wolves.
“It was always going to be tough,” he said.
“We started well, we were aggressive. We knew we had to be on top of our game.
“I am very proud of the intensity.
“We took our chances, it was a long time coming but we actually took them today which was nice.”
Wollongong Wolves coach Luke Wilkshire felt his side weren’t at the races in the match highlighting set pieces as the key downfall for the team.
“We weren’t at the races,” he said.
“Every set piece we look like conceding goals, we can’t attack the ball, we can’t win balls in the area.
“The first goal comes from a freekick into the box that we didn’t deal with and went out for a corner which we didn’t deal with.”
Match Stats
Wollongong Wolves 1 (Lachlan Scott 15’)
Sydney Olympic 5 (Benjamin van Meurs 7’, Michael Glassock 34’, Mohamed Adam 50’ 86’, Jason Madonis 90’)
Sunday 6 June 2021
Albert Butler Memorial Park, Primbee
Referee: T. Danaskos
Assistant Referee: J. Adabjou and E. Kocbek
Fourth Official: L. Lavigne
Wollongong Wolves: 23.Hayden Durose, 2.Taylor McDonald, 4.Nikola Djordjevic, 6.Ethan Kambisios (8.Brendan Griffin 46’), 7. Marcus Beattie, 11.Leroy Jennings, 14.Brendan Low, 17.Jake Lavalle (13.Stefan Dimoski 60’),19.Bilal Belkadi, 20.Liam Wille (10.Nav Darjani 46’), 24.Lachlan Scott
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Aiden Munford, 5.Dax Kelly, 18.Evan Ball
Yellow Cards: Ethan Kambisios 13’, Nikola Djordjevic 45+1’, Brendan Low 60’, Leroy Jennings 71’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1.Nicholas Sorras, 2.Thomas Whiteside, 4.Benjamin van Meurs, 5.Michael Glassock, 8.Jason Madonis, 9.Oliver Puflett (6.Nicola Kuleski 75’), 10.Brendan Cholakian, 21.Fabian Monge, 22.Fabio Ferreira (36.Matthew Scarcella 84’), 23.Daniel Dias, 35.Mohamed Adam
Substitutes Not Used: 17.Marley Peterson, 19.Darcy Burgess, 20.Luke Kairies, 24.Christopher Gligor
Yellow Cards: Brendan Cholakian 86’, Michael Glassock 88’
Red Cards: Nil
– By National Premier Leagues NSW Reporter Timothy Gibson
