St George City heap more misery on Olympic
St George City opened its winning account for the 2024 National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW season following a 1-0 victory over an under-fire Sydney Olympic FC outfit at Valentine Sports Park on Saturday.
The Blues job of registering three points got off to a horrific start following the straight send-off of debutant George Timotheou for a reckless challenge after 20 seconds of play.
A minute later, St George were given a great opportunity to open the scoring, as a whipped, enticing delivery from Kosta Petratos saw Tarik Ercan bounce a header just wide of the far post.
Despite the earliest of send offs, Olympic were anything but down and out, as they remained competitive and particularly dangerous on counter-attacks.
In the 20th minute, St George, through good, patient build-up, were able to find Fumoto Kamada on the edge of the box on the left; the wingback cut inside dangerously, before whipping an intense right-footed effort at goal, which flew just wide of the right-post.
Three minutes later, Kamada was involved in a swift attacking move once more, curling in a speedy, dangerous ball into the centre which found the head of Presley Ortiz, but the striker couldn’t gain sufficient contact on the strike.
Olympic, to their credit, were very much still in the match, sitting deep and preventing St George from being able to progress the ball centrally and find space between the lines, instead forcing them wide and diminishing a significant amount of their attacking threat as a result.
In the 28th minute, St George did find an incisive, central pass courtesy of Brodie Clarkson, with Kosta Petratos receiving the ball just inside the box and turning with efficiency, before shooting over the frame of the goal.
Two minutes later, another smart pass in between the lines from Clarkson found Petratos in between the lines, who quickly shifted the ball off to Khoury, who shot a menacing effort across goal from just outside the box, forcing Noah James to make a sharp stop.
In the 41st minute, Olympic threatened with a chance of their own, as a clever routine allowed Jackson Bandiera to whip in an inviting cross, which was leapt at by Zac Zoricich, but Bandiera’s fellow fullback couldn’t gain meaningful contact on his effort.
However, on the stroke of halftime, St George’s consistent territorial dominance proved too much for Olympic.
Another fantastic progressive pass from Clarkson found the feet of Khoury between the lines, who fed in Petratos, who had made a clever run off him in behind.
Petratos took a positive touch forward in behind the defence and made no mistake in converting with power and precision to give his side an important advantage heading into the second half.
Olympic came out in the second half looking to make this match a true contest despite their significant disadvantage, with coach Labinot Haliti cleverly switching to a 4-3-2 defensive structure, which gave his side more central security defensively to prevent St George from finding space centrally to link up, while also allowing them to attack quickly in middle channels after winning the ball, with players more closely connected to move the ball forwards quickly.
In the 51st minute, a clever pass from Ercan slipped in Presley Ortiz, who converted with ease into the far corner, but the forward had strayed offside whilst making the run.
In the 61st minute, a freekick from Bandiera rustled the net of the goal menacingly, as the fullback’s whipped effort curled just over the goal.
As the game passed the hour mark, Olympic’s fans knew they were very much still in the match, as the intensity of the atmosphere continued to build.
However, in the 66th minute St George were given a golden opportunity to double their lead, as a clever jink from Khoury drew contact from Sam Mcillhatton.
Star forward Jason Romero stood up from 12 yards to give St George a crucial second goal, but his effort to the left of the goal was saved stunningly by James to keep their deficit to the one goal.
In the 70th minute, a good one-two between Yerasimakis Petratos and Khoury saw the former with a chance to shoot from inside the six-yard box, but another vital save from James prevented St George from finding the back of the net.
James continued his sensational save record in the 75th minute, preventing another shot from inside the box – courtesy of K. Petratos – with a sharp stop.
As Olympic had more possession due to St George backing off in the last 15 minutes, the home side pushed their fullbacks high in search of an equaliser.
As a result significant space opened up for St George City to transition on the wings and in pockets when winning the ball back, but Olympic were still very much in the match, playing with an increased sense of urgency and threat.
However, as the minutes ticked on, the slim chance of an Olympic equaliser was made increasingly slimmer, and the match finished with St George City deservedly victorious.
Touted as one of the team’s to watch out for silverware this year, Olympic will need to lift to win back its momentum as well as keeping its fans happy who left Valentine Sports Park disgruntled.
St George coach Mirko Jurilj was happy with the result, but was disappointed his side didn’t make the most of the chances they had to put the game to bed.
“Well obviously it’s not ideal from a footballing perspective that there’s a send-off in the first minute, and I’m not going to comment on that but the referee made his decision and that’s it,” he said.
“We did really make hard work of that, more so in the second half; we could have really put the game to bed but sometimes that happens in football where you get a little bit complacent against ten men.
“The overall output needs to be better so nothing changes but I think it’s more of a mindset where players can become just a little bit relaxed with an extra man, but I’m happy to have gotten the three points.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic FC 0
St George City FA 1 (Kosta Petratos 45’)
Saturday 24 February, 2024
Valentine Sports Park
Referee: Jake Rose
Assistant Referees: Alessandro Llana, Thomas Bury
Fourth Official: Blake Sanchez-Cruz
Sydney Olympic FC: 1. Noah James, 4. George Timotheou, 7. Jaden Casella (14. Michael Vakis 45’), 8. Sam Mcillhatton 10. Darcy Burgess (15. William Mutch 3’), 11. Adam Parkhouse (9. Oliver Puflett 59’), 12. Zac Zoricich, 18. Teng Kuol, 23. Jackson Bandiera, 29. George Antonis (19. Gianni Di Pizio 45’), 99. Roy O’Donovan (C) (17. Abraham Majok 73’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Christopher Parsons
Yellow Cards: Antonis 44’, Vakis 50’, Kuol 88’
Red Cards: Timotheou 1’
St George City FA: 1. Jack Kenny, 2. Cameron Fong (9. Yerasimakis Petratos 54’), 3. Joshua Hong (28. Noah Ovens 77’), 4. Solomon-Johnn Monohan-Vaiika, 5. Fumoto Kamada (10. Jason Romero 54’), 6. Tarik Ercan (C), 11. Kosta Petratos, 25. Brodie Clarkson, 30. Presley Ortiz (19. Jesse Photi 77’), 33. Louis Khoury, 99. Matthew Keremelevski
Substitutes Not Used: 7. Nathan Roberts, 13. Joseph Knowles,
Yellow Cards: Monohan-Vaiika 4’, Khoury 75’
Red Cards:
Player ratings:
3 – Brodie Clarkson (SG)
2 – Noah James (SO)
1 – Kosta Petratos (SG)
By Jack George (@JackGeorge0004)
