Ujdur Brace propels Olympic past Northbridge
Former Bulls star Nikola Ujdur has become the unlikely hero for Sydney Olympic, with his brace securing three crucial points for Sydney Olympic as they defeated Northbridge Bulls 4-2 at Sydney United Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon.
Ujdur opened the scoring in the 15th minute for Olympic shortly before Lachlan Rose answered back for the hosts minutes later.
Darcy Burgess ensured Olympic would go into the break with a lead after his goal in the 33rd minute gave the visitors the lead for the second time in the game.
Rose capped off a successful opening to the second half for the Bulls with a goal in the 55th minute but O’Donovan put Olympic back in the lead from the penalty spot in the 67th minute, shortly before Ujdur bagged his second in the 71st minute to seal the result.
In a thrilling opening thirty minutes Northbridge were dealt a massive blow early on with skipper Brodie Clarkson forced to leave the field after going down with a serious looking injury just ten minutes in.
Olympic opened the scoring shortly after in the 15th minute with Ujdur coming back to haunt his former side when he found the back of the net.
It was on the back of a dangerous delivery from Darcy Burgess that found its way into the area before deflecting into the path of Ujdur, with the defender smashing home his effort from close range.
The hosts swiftly levelled the scores after an incredible solo run from Jed Drew gave him the ideal path for an open pass into the box for Rose, where he neatly buried his chance.
Nicholas Suman somehow managed to keep the scores level for the time being after denying Adam Parkhouse from point blank range.
With both teams going back and forth in fast paced end to the half it was Olympic who would come out on top when they regained the lead in the 33rd minute.
After diving down to deny a piercing effort from Oliver Puflett, Suman was left stranded as the ball fell perfectly back to Burgess and he powered his effort into a near empty net to put the visitors back in the lead.
Olympic went into the break up by a goal proving their clinical nature in front of goal with limited chances.
The hosts started off the second half more dominant and put Olympic on the backfoot early.
Moudi Najjar was unlucky to have not equalled the scores after a lofted cross from Drew landed into the path of the midfielder only for his shot to narrowly curl away from the target.
The Bulls early pressure finally paid off in the 55th minute after a perfectly placed ball from Stephan De Robillard picked out Rose, where he made no mistakes placing his shot in at the front post.
The visitors regained momentum in the game when the referee awarded Olympic a penalty, after Suman took out Parkhouse in a one-on-one situation.
In a fast-paced collision Suman came out worse and was left on the ground as he required treatment, before eventually being taken off and replaced by Levi Kaye.
The substitute keeper came within inches of denying O’Donovan from the spot but the veteran striker’s effort was just too powerful as it skimmed the fingertips of Kaye and hit the back of the net.
Olympic looked hungry to add more goals to their tally after scoring a third with O’Donovan sensationally being denied a quickfire brace as his powerful header forced a world-class save from Kaye.
The hosts got a desirable two-goal lead from the following corner after Brendan Cholakian perfectly found the head of Udjur and the defender picked out the bottom corner and secured an improbable brace.
O’Donovan came agonisingly close to finding a second of the game after a powerful delivery from Parkhouse gave the striker an open net, but he was just too late as the ball skimmed past his boots.
Northbridge pushed in the final period of the game, desperate for an avenue back into the game, but the Olympic defence looked determined to hold onto the two-goal buffer.
It was a day where not much went the way of the hosts, which was highlighted by Drew’s last minute free kick that hit the underside of the crossbar before being pushed away by Nicholas Sorras.
It was a difficult result for Northbridge to swallow after losing both their captain and keeper during the game.
Northbridge coach Mile Sterjovski credited a quality Olympic side noted how big the loss of his captain and keeper was.
“What’s disappointing is it’s three goals from set-pieces, which we’ve tried to focus on and be better at, but it’s what’s got us undone today,” he said.
“We changed a few things up in the second half and I thought we started to create a bit more, I felt like we could have gone and done the job… they [Olympic] brought on a lot of quality and it shows.
“It was massive for us [losing Brodie Clarkson and Nicholas Suman], they’re two players who make a big impact and Brodie has had a great season for us, it was hard for us to take but I thought the boys who came in did a great job.”
Olympic coach Ante Juric noted the improvement in Northbridge and was happy to see his side get another positive result.
“Northbridge are probably stronger than they have been since the season started, I think we’ve got a lot more in us but I’m very happy with the result,” he said.
“They got two goals, but they didn’t have a lot of chances and they scored on the counter which hurt us, they came at us in the second half and I knew they would, then we had to step up and we did well to get four goals.”
Match Stats
Northbridge Bulls FC 2 (Rose 19’, 55’)
Sydney Olympic FC 4 (Ujdur 15’ 71’, Burgess 33’, O’Donovan 67’)
Saturday 4th June 2022
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Referee: Sebastian Andrews
Assistant Referees: Ethan Zvargulis and Scott Edeling
Fourth Official: Nick Vermaat
Northbridge Bulls FC: 1.Nick Suman (20. Levi Kaye 67’), 2. Jack Mcoughlin , 3. Nathan Dimou 6.Moudi Najjar, 8.Brodie Clarkson (18. Marcus Sparacino 10’), 11.Stephan De Robillard (5. Sebastian Hernandez 78’), 14.Alhassan Toure (9. Diego Bonilla 63’),15. Eddie Caspers, 16. Oliver Jones, 17. Jed Drew, 31.Lachlan Rose (13. James Cakovski 63’).
Substitutes Not Used: 21. Matthew O’Donoghue
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Card: Nil
Sydney Olympic FC: 1. Nicholas Sorras, 2. Thomas Whiteside (36. Peter Politis 90’), 3. Nikola Ujdur, 4. Benjamin van Meurs, 5. Michael Glassock, 6. Mathieu Cordier, 8. Sam Mcillhatton (17. Marley Peterson 67’), 9. Oliver Puflett (10. Brendan Cholakian 67’), 11. Adam Parkhouse (23. Daniel Dias 90’), 19. Darcy Burgess , 99. Roy O’Donovan (22. Fabio Ferreira 82’).
Substitutes not used: 20. Christopher Parsons
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Card: Nil
Written by National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter, Dominic Criniti @DominicCriniti
