Hasegawa the hero as Olympic snatch it at the death
A Yu Hasegawa goal deep into added time has helped Sydney Olympic snatch a dramatic 1-0 win against Sydney FC at Belmore Sports Ground on Saturday.
Hasegawa headed home from a Michael Glassock cross in the 93rd minute to give Olympic their second win on the trot and extend their unbeaten run to four.
It was a heartbreaking result for the Young Sky Blues, who had their chances to take the lead throughout the second half but paid the price for their poor finishing.
The result boosts Olympic’s finals hopes with another vital three competition points with only six games left to play in the regular season.
The game came alive in the 5th minute when Sydney FC ran through the middle and ended the move with a shot by Clayton Taylor that was well saved by ‘keeper Nicholas Sorras who turned it away for a corner.
Shortly afterwards, the reply from Sydney Olympic came from Oliver Puflett, but his attempt was just over the crossbar.
In the 22nd minute, the home side should have taken the lead.
The ball bobbled around the penalty box before making its way over to Mohamed Adam on the right. Still, his drilled diagonal thunderbolt was cleared off the line by Cameron Fong in what was miraculous for the Young Sky Blues.
The remainder of the first half was a tightly controlled affair by each side, and there were no further chances from either side that were going to break the deadlock.
The opening chance of the second half belonged to Kai Kamakura, who came on during the interval for Sydney FC, but an alert Sorras in goal met his diagonal shot from the right.
In the space of a few minutes, there two golden chances for Sydney FC, and, on both occasions, they were thwarted by a brilliant Sorras in goal for the home side.
It was the 65th minute when a diving Sorras well saved Taylor’s shot from the left, and eventually, the ball was cleared away by the defence.
A few minutes later, there was an even better chance when a square ball reached Oscar Priestman, and he blasted his shot from close range, but Sorras again was able to block it, this time with his feet.
In the 85th minute, Jaiden Kucharski ran onto a corner and shot from close range, but the ball finished over the crossbar, and once again, Sydney FC went perilously close without actually scoring.
Sydney Olympic then literally stole the game in stoppage time when a brilliant Glassock cross from the right found Hasegawa in the box, and his header went in over the ‘keeper and off the underside of the crossbar to send his teammates into raptures.
It was his second of the season, and a goal that could prove huge come end of the season when round 22 concludes.
After the game, Sydney Olympic coach Ante Juric acknowledged that a draw perhaps would have been a fair result but was more than happy to celebrate the win.
“It’s nice to get two wins in a row now because it’s the business end of the season,” he said.
“In terms of football, it probably should have been a draw because they were very good, but that Nick’s [Sorras] job and that’s why he got brought back into the team.
“Sydney FC had some good chances, but they did miss them, and we were a bit lucky to get one at the end. The win is important because it’s the business end of the year, and we have a good spirit and are building slowly.”
His counterpart Jim Van Weeren was adamant that his young side needed to capitalise on their chances.
“I don’t really know what to say because we had more than enough chances to win, but credit to Sorras the goalkeeper because he made at least three really good saves to keep them in the game,” he said.
“Football is about converting chances and they showed us that tonight. The disappointing thing is that we should be able to deal with that sort of pressure there at the end and prevent that chance from going in.
“It’s a learning moment but still disappointing. Next week we are home against Manly and they are a top three or four team. It’s going to be a really tough game and we are going to have a find a way to try to turn it around from tonight.”
Match Stats
SYDNEY OLYMPIC: 1 (Hasegawa 90’ + 3)
SYDNEY FC: 0
Saturday 12th June 2021
Belmore Sports Ground
Referee: S.Kelly
Assistant Referees: A.McConachie, E.Kocbek
Fourth Official: H.Al-Nakeeb
SYDNEY OLYMPIC: 1.Nicholas Sorras, 2.Thomas Whiteside, 4.Benjamin Van Meurs, 5.Michael Glassock, 6.Nikola Kuleski, 8.Jason Madonis (19.Darcy Burgess 66’), 9.Oliver Puflett, 21.Fabian Monge, 22.Fabio Ferreira (17.Marley Peterson 81’), 23.Daniel Dias, 35.Mohamed Adam (18.Yu Hasegawa 68’).
Substitutes not used: 20.Luke Kairies, 27.Simon Milicevic, 29.Chan Deng
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Card: Nil
SYDNEY FC: 1.Levi Kaye, 2.Cameron Fong, 3.Aaron Gurd, 5.Thomas Fay, 7.Aidan Simmons (18. Oscar Priestman46′), 11.Adrian Segecic (10.Jaiden Kucharski 68’), 12.Jake Girdwood-Reich, 13.Clayton Taylor, 17.Jayden Trenkoski (32.Kai Kamikura 46’), 19.Joseph Calusic, 33.Corey Hollman.
Substitutes not used: 16.Stevan Stanic-Floody, 60.Maz Vartuli.
Yellow Cards: Hollman 64’, Girdwood-Reich 80’
Red Card: Nil
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
