Roy O’Donovan or Superman? Influential Striker rescues Belmore again
Sydney Olympic FC defeated NWS Spirit FC in what was a highly entertaining and drama-filled 2-1 victory at Belmore Sports Ground in Round 11 of the National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW competition.
NWS Spirit began their encounter against Sydney Olympic like a house on fire as Jesse Michel fired off a wayward shot almost immediately. Then it was Zachary Cianci who skewed his attempt wide after receiving a near-perfect through ball via Jarred McKinley.
Their resolute efforts continued in the eight-minute mark as Michel was hit hard by the hosts, however he was stoic and played on. Following that however Sydney Olympic began to gain some momentum as Roy O’Donovan found himself in acres of space but was pegged back for offside.
Then it was his partner in crime Adam Parkhouse who curled in a beautiful shot from the edge of the box, only to have it vehemently palmed away by Christopher Marques.
Olympic continued to grind away at a rugged Spirit defence as O’Donovan saw his halfway attempt glide over the goal, then following that he couldn’t quite get his body in the right position as a glorious chance went amiss.
The opening stanza ended with McKinley seeing a straight red card for a nasty studs up challenge on William Mutch.
The Spirit began the second half under immediate siege as Simon Nicholas came to the rescue, blocking Darcy Burgess’s lethal attempt from close range.
Despite Olympic’s one-man advantage it mattered little when Ollie Wiggin’s shot at goal came off the hands of George Antonis.
Jared Lum calmly and coolly converted the ensuing spot kick past Noah James who dove the right way to deliver his side a 60th-minute lead.
Parkhouse’s determined response was almost immediate as he unleashed his potent attempt to level the game up. And the hosts almost claimed back-to-back strikes only for O’Donovan to see his bicycle kick land just wide of the posts.
Parkhouse almost scored the winner only for his sneaky corner kick attempt to be thwarted by the outstretched arm of Marques.
As they did against the Wollongong Wolves a couple of weeks ago, Olympic pushed for a winner and got their just reward in the 88th minute via the spot.
Abraham Majok was upended by Kyle Shaw inside the box with O’Donovan dusting off the boots and slamming home his eighth goal of the 2024 campaign.
Roy O’Donovan reflected post game after his calm and composed winner.
“The penalty was an unfortunate way for Spirit to end the game, but it was a fair call.
“For myself I put that blinker focus on, hit the target and thankfully it went in.
“The red card affected both teams and I know he didn’t mean to hurt anybody.”
David Perkovic meanwhile was happy with his troops despite the late heart-breaking loss.
“I was proud of the boys’ effort today and I felt that we successfully got into the heads of the opposition.
“And we did get a deserved penalty, however unfortunately we weren’t able to come away with a point.
“They’ll be gutted, but we can build on this.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic FC 2 (Adam Parkhouse 68’, Roy O’Donovan 88’)
NWS Spirit FC 1 (Jared Lum 60’)
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Sunday 21st April 2024
Referee: Craig Fisher
Assistants: Matthew Harris and Nicholas Farmer
Fourth Official: Charbel Geha
Sydney Olympic FC: 1.Noah James, 2.George Timotheou, 5.Zygmunt Gordon, (7.Jaden Casella 61’), 8.Sam Mcillhatton, 9.Oliver Puflett, 10.Darcy Burgess, 11.Adam Parkhouse, 12.Zac Zoricich, 15.William Mutch, (17.Abraham Majok 61’), (18.Teng Kuol 69’), (19.Gianni Di Pizio 90+5’), (23.Jackson Bandiera 45’), 29.George Antonis, 99.Roy O’Donovan
Subs not used: 20.Christopher Parsons
Yellow Cards: (Zygmunt Gordon 21’, George Antonis 29’, Noah James 90+4’)
Red Cards: Nil
NWS Spirit FC: 1.Christopher Marques, 3.Kyle Shaw, 4.Jared Mckinley, 6.Corey Kavanagh, 8.Grant Cornwell, (9.Gianni Bouzoukis 77’), 11.Ollie Wiggin, 13.Simon Nicholas, (14.Jacob Sullivan 84’), (15.Brayden Burr 84’), 17.Jacob Chidiac, 18.Zachary Cianci, 19.Jesse Michel, 20.Jared Lum, (21.Luiz Lobo 64’), (36.Kyah Williams 64’)
Subs not used: 31.Joel Wade
Yellow Cards: (Christopher Marques 67’, Kyle Shaw 88’)
Red Cards: (Jared McKinely 43’)
Player Ratings
3 – Roy O’Donovan (SO)
2 – Christopher Marques (NWS)
1 – Darcy Burgess (SO)
-By Tobias Canning
