Sharks register first win of the campaign against hapless Olympic
Sutherland Sharks registered its first victory of the 2024 National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW campaign with memorable a 1-0 victory over Sydney Olympic in round 5 on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Seymour Shaw.
Jay McGowan was the star of the afternoon scoring the solitary goal as the Sharks heaped further misery on the Blues who suffered their fourth loss in five matches.
It was a well taken strike on the hour after good lead-up work found the wide man in space to accurately find the back of the net with several Olympic defenders bearing down.
It mattered little for the home fans as Sutherland recorded their first win of the season and the relief was palpable around the ground at the final whistle.
Olympic Coach Labinot Haliti started with Sam McIllhatton, Oliver Puflett, Will Mutch and striker Roy O’Donovan on the bench alongside Josh Okan and reserve ‘keeper Chris Parsons, much to the surprise of those in attendance.
It was certainly a strong line-up to call upon should they be required in a bold move.
Jacob Garner needed to be sharp witted for the Sharks in the 2nd minute to turn an Abraham Majok centre out for a corner with Darcy Burgess ominously lurking unmarked in the area while on the other end Peter Politis thwarted a McGowan effort with a last ditch tackle that needed to be perfectly timed in the area. It was a brisk start to proceedings belying their lowly ladder positions.
Olympic were making inroads down the Sutherland left flank however the final pass option was letting them down and in a match where the opening goal would mean so much, it was proving a tight tussle with neither ‘keeper called into action midway through the half.
Majok, again found space down the right, crossed it for Burgess on the centre spot and, at the second attempt, lashed a low right-footed shot goalward in the 28th minute that gloveman Nenad Vekic did extremely well to smother on the line and prevent Olympic from taking the lead.
The game was smouldering nicely and just needed a goal to ignite it into action and the visitors came the closest so far.
Sam Gulisano jinked his way down the wing before crossing perfectly for Maxx Green to head goalward that Noah James gathered comfortably after 32 minutes before Mason Fernandez surged down on goal a minute later. His shot though was saved by the legs of the Olympic ‘keeper this time as the home side upped the tempo on a blisteringly hot energy sapping afternoon.
Olympic survived a scare in stoppage time when Teng Kuol gave away a free-kick on the edge of the area but the shot was driven into the wall and the half-time break arrived with the stalemate intact.
Josh Okan replaced Burgess after the break for Olympic as Haliti looked to change the formation and focus of attack giving the Sharks something new to think about.
Zoricich cleared off the line from Fernandez in the 50th minute following a free-kick given away by Ziggy Gordon with Green coming close from the resultant corner and he came closer still less than a minute later when latching on to a through ball via Mitch Stamatellis and forcing James into a diving save down at this left-hand post.
The switch had been flicked in what had been a tepid six-point encounter thus far.
A long Stamatellis pass was met by substitute James Cakovski in the 59th minute who looked to have over-run the ball but Green nipped in to force a save out of James but the home side were not to be denied when McGowan found the net on the hour mark. More nippy footwork setting up the opportunity for the wide man to slot home.
Olympic immediately rang the changes by bringing Puflett and Mutch off the bench closely followed by O’Donovan and McIllhatton in a desperate ‘do or die’ situation and all out attack now the visitors only option.
It nearly paid off in the 70th minute when Politis skied one past the woodwork.
Olympic fired up and started to look dangerous as they tried to restore parity.
The problem for the visitors now being they were leaving gaps at the back for Sutherland to exploit.
Green should have put the result beyond doubt with a clear header from a Mo Ahmed cross he somehow managed to put over the bar. He won’t get too many clear cut chances like that this season.
McIlhatton played a one-two with Pufflet with the latter sending a curling shot just past the woodwork in the dying embers of the match, Olympic doing everything possible to gain something from the fixture with worse to come when Mutch clattered head first into the hoardings in stoppage time.
Thankfully he was able to retake the pitch after what looked a horrendous collision.
It wasn’t to be for Olympic and Sutherland recorded their first win and extremely precious three points of the season leaving a relieved, if not jubilant Coach, Steve Zoric, to state post-match.
“We sort of set out this week after the Wednesday game where we were very disappointed by our performance, where we didn’t capitalise on our opportunities and the way in which we dealt with their counters,” he said.
“We needed to play a more controlled game and keep it tight and we did that today with the focus obviously not to bleed goals which we’ve been doing this season so far.
“We created a few chances and thankfully jagged one but we have to be more clinical in front of goal and today Olympic made us work hard for it. They came at us and threw on a few fresh reserves who are quality players, they are a quality team, so we had to fight for the win and be courageous today.
“It hard when you go through the start of season like we have, all teams will go through patches like this, and we had to tweak a few things, knuckle down, stay focussed and work hard to get our first win of the campaign.
“The guys looked engaged at training last night and we felt something special would happen today but we in time honoured fashion just have to take it week by week and see where we go,” he concluded.
Match Stats
Sutherland Sharks: 1 (Jay McGowan 60’)
Sydney Olympic: 0
Seymour Shaw Park, Miranda
Saturday, 9th March 2024
Referee: Karl Davies
Assistants: Matthew Harris and Alexandra Mackay
Fourth: Thomas Dale
Sutherland Sharks: 1 Nenad Vekic, 4 Mitch Stamatellis, 5 Takahide Umebachi (8 Mo Ahmed 67’), 6 Samuel Gulisano, 9 Maxx Green (32. Liam Rippon 84’),, 10 Mason Fernandez, 11 Jay McGowan, 15 Matthew Moric (23. Alex Trajanoski 84’), 21. Luke Sauer (7. James Cakovski 53’), 26 Jake Garner, 27 Matthew Jackson
Subs Not Used: 3. Jordan Roberts, 99. Jacob Cremen-Cowan
Yellow Cards: Takehide Umebachi 29’, Matthew Jackson 88’, Mason Fernandez 89’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1. Noah James, 2. Peter Politis, 4. George Timotheou, 5. Ziggy Gordon (99. Roy O’Donovan 65’), 7. Jaden Casella (15. Will Mutch 61’), 10. Darcy Burgess (16. Josh Okan 46’), 12. Zac Zoricich, 14. Michael Vakis (Oliver Puflett 61’), 17. Abraham Majok, 18. Teng Kuol, 19. Gianni De Pizio (8. Sam Mclllhatton 65’)
Subs Not Used: 20. Chris Parsons
Yellow Cards: Abraham Majok 29’, Teng Kuol 45+1, Zac Zoricich 66’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Jay McGowan (SS)
2 – Abraham Majok (SO)
1 – Mitch Stamatellis (SS)
By NPL Mens NSW Reporter Micky Brock
