Heavyweights Olympic grounded by spirited St George City
St George City have defeated another National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s heavyweight in the shape of Sydney Olympic thanks to a late Nathan Roberts goal as the hosts took out the match 1-0 at Penshurst Park.
Round 4 saw Mirko Jurilj’s side defeat the Stallions and this week it was Olympic’s turn to feel the wrath of the newly promoted side who have made it three wins on the trot as well as keeping its first clean sheet for 2023.
For Olympic, a star-studded side, it was their second successive loss as the Blues will be doing a bit of soul searching in getting back to winning ways.
The game started off as a cagey affair with both teams not letting their guards down until the 17th minute when a dangerous cross from the right almost reached Marley Peterson in the middle until a superb intervention by Michael Neill, just in time, cleared the danger for Sydney Olympic.
The next best chance arrived in the 28th minute when a low-swinging cross from the left by Franco Maya was neutralised by an advancing Nicholas Sorras.
On the half hour mark, St George City should really have hit the intended target when Pedro Ferrari found Kosta Petratos galloping down the left channel, but he fired his shot into the side of the net. It was ever so close for the Red and Whites.
Sydney Olympic replied almost immediately after the home side failed to clear the ball and Jack Simmons fired from just outside the box, but a superb reflex save by Nicholas Burke saved the home side’s defensive blushes.
In the 40th minute a Sydney Olympic free-klick from the left made its way over to the right where Adam Parkhouse unleashed a rocket that went wide of the post. It could have been a goal there and then for the visitors but it wasn’t to be as both sides entered the sheds without troubling the scoreboard attendant and indeed it was the first time this season that St George City hadn’t scored in the first half of play.
The opening minute of the second stanza though really should have seen a goal to St George City.
Goalkeeper Sorras stumbled after a shot by Dominic Cox but somehow, he managed to get back and block an on-target shot by Peterson with a brilliant one handed save
In the 53rd minute a close range shot by Nick Fitzgerald brought out the best in Burke who turned it away for a corner with a beautiful save down low to his left.
Parkhouse then entered the box a minute later with some determination on the right, but his powerful shot hit the outside of the netting as many spectators thought that the ball had actually gone in.
St George City made a triple substitution a few minutes later as coach Mirko Jurilj tried to revitalise his team by reshuffling his deck of cards.
In the 68th minute a cross from the right reached Kosta Petratos but his final shot lacked power and Sorras made a rather comfortable save.
In the 78th minute Sydney Olympic’s substitutes combined for a great chance when Fabio Ferreira charged down right flank and provided a delightful cross for an unmarked Oliver Puflett, but his header from a great position was just a fraction wide. Then a minute later Darcy Burgess saw his shot from close range saved by Burke.
In the 83rd minute the deadlock was finally broken by St George City when a long-range ball from the right by Kosta Petratos found substitute Nathan Roberts at the far post and he bundled the ball over the line from close range, much to the joy of the home fans in the stands.
It was all that was needed to separate the sides in what was a tightly fought contest.
In the 86th minute Kosta Petratos, arguably the player of the match, from outside the box almost brought the house down again with a thunderbolt that sailed only a whisper over the crossbar; it would indeed have been some goal.
In the 90th minute a bizarre incident almost put a premature halt to proceedings.
As the fourth official held up three more minutes, the lights at Penshurst Park went out. Luckily they came back on a minute or so later and the game resumed.
Speaking post-match, St George City coach Mirko Jurilj was delighted to have taken another heavyweight NPL NSW Men’s scalp as his troops kept their first clean sheet this season.
“I am over the moon considering that we have now had wins in successive weeks over Marconi and Olympic.
“It’s great because we have an inner self belief but tonight wasn’t really a great performance by us.
“Our execution wasn’t the best, but we hung in there and I told the boys at training on Thursday that we are not going to score three goals in every game.
“You have to make sure you don’t concede and for us it was great ball by Kosta to secure our goal.
“Football is a game of moments and fortunately for us it went our way tonight.
“It’s our first clean sheet of the season and we only had two in pre-season out of 11 games, so against a team with some firepower tonight I thought that we definitely contained them well.”
Sydney Olympic coach Labinot Haliti on the other hand was philosophical about the narrow loss.
“Tonight I thought we played the way we wanted to play.
“It was just one moment when we had the ball, and it went out for a throw-in and then they scored. There is nothing much to say really about that.
“I would be worried if we were playing bad football but that’s not the case at all.
“We went forward and played the way we wanted to play.
“We are humble and we always work hard because in this league there are many good teams and you have to respect that. We are creating chances but that’s how it works in football sometimes.”
Match Stats
St GEORGE CITY: 1 (Roberts 83’)
SYDNEY OLYMPIC: 0
Saturday 4th March 2023
Penshurst Park
Referee: Danny Horstead
Assistant Referees: Amirhossein Hosnani and Mitchell Renton
Fourth Official: Matthew Harris
St GEORGE CITY: 1. Nicholas Burke, 2. Pedro Ferrari, 3. Daniel Alessi, 6. Tarik Ercan, 8. Dominic Cox, 9. Marley Peterson (20. Aiden Mostofi 57’), 11. Kosta Petratos, 14. Dean Pelekanos (10. Paolo Mitry 57’), 23. Franco Maya (24. Alex Kyriacou 57’), 70. Maki Petratos (30. Presley Ortiz 46’), 99. Matthew Keremelevski (7. Nathan Roberts 79’).
Substitutes not used: 12. Jack Kenny.
Yellow Cards: Pelekanos 39’, Burke 90’
Red Cards: Nil
SYDNEY OLYMPIC:1. Nicholas Sorras, 3. Michael Neill (7. Will Angel 73’), 4. Benjamin Van Meurs, 5. Zygmunt Gordon, 6. Jack Simmons, 10. Darcy Burgess, 11. Adam Parkhouse, 12. Matthew Buettner, 14. James Georgaklis (22. Fabio Ferreira 60’), 29. Nick Fitzgerald (9. Oliver Puflett 73’), 99. Roy O’Donovan.
Substitutes not used: 2. Michael Vakis, 20. Chris Parsons
Yellow Cards: Parkhouse 43’, O’Donovan 75’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Kosta Petratos (STGO)
2 – Matthew Buettner (SO)
1 – Dominic Cox (STGO)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
