Olympic keep finals dreams alive
Sydney Olympic kept its top six finals series hopes alive with a 2-1 victory over NWS Spirit FC on a chilly Saturday evening at Christie Park.
Two first half Roy O’Donovan goals gave the Blues a half-time advantage which they held onto despite a Michael Konestabo goal with just over ten minutes left.
Despite having a lot of ball in the Spirit’s half, Olympic couldn’t quite find the key to unlocking the Spirit’s defence in the games opening quarter hour.
While Jesse Michel gave the hosts their first opportunity of the game in the 16th minute, an attack down the right seeing the ball worked inside to the striker. Michel’s shot going high and wide of the top corner.
But it was Olympic who opened the scoring before the 20th minute, a first time O’Donovan effort from the edge of the box beating Christopher Marques in the Spirit net.
That goal opened the game up with O’Donovan going close for Olympic and Richie Darko heading over the bar at the other end in the space of a few minutes following.
O’Donovan was in the mood for more, running onto a Adam Parkhouse through ball down the channel. His left footed effort across the face of goal sailing wide after the half hour.
Spirit’s night went from bad to worse before the break.
O’Donovan given a golden opportunity for his brace from the spot.in the 41st minute. The experienced campaigner converting his penalty with power into the bottom right corner.
Olympic went very close to adding a third in the 48th minute. Parkhouse releasing O’Donovan to his left breaking forward after a loose giveaway in midfield. O’Donovan’s effort curled wide of the right facing post.
Playing with more urgency, the hosts went close approaching the 65th minute mark. Ante Bakmaz hooked his effort wide of the near left post.
While Olympic went close again soon after, O’Donovan turned provider with a low cross-field ball releasing Teng Kuol through on goal, his effort saved by Marques.
Spirit soon got a goal back with just over ten minutes remaining. It was a wonderful strike from Konestabo taking a touch of the right post before bouncing into the net.
Olympic held onto that two goal lead with some last ditch defending in the final five minutes. Post game, Olympic coach Labinot Haliti was pleased with his sides performance.
“The boys did their job tonight and executed the plan well.
“We’re in it together and they have been superb across the past eight or nine weeks.
“Sometimes you know, you’re not going to play a perfect 90 minutes, we know that and the boys worked hard for each other.”
Match Stats
NWS Spirit 1 (Konestabo 78’)
Sydney Olympic 2 (O’Donovan 19’ 42’)
Saturday 26 July, 2024
Christie Park, Macquarie Park
Referee: Craig Fisher
Assistant Referees: Amirhossein Hosnani & Alexis Johnson
Fourth Official: Charbel Geha
NWS Spirit: 1. Christopher Marques (GK), 3. Kyle Shaw, 5. Frankie Ljucovic (15. Takeru Sugita 77’), 7. Richie Darko (17. Jacob Chidiac 64’), 8. Grant Cornwell, 10. Michael Konestabo, 13. Simon Nicholas, 16. Ante Bakmaz (22. Yannis Frerck 67’), 18. Zachary Cianci (21. Jayden Tran 77’), 19. Jesse Michel, 20. Jared Lum (4. Jarred Mckinley 63’)
Substitutes Not Used: 31. Joel Wade,
Yellow Cards: Ljucovic 41’, Mckinley 74’
Red Cards: ’Nil
Sydney Olympic: 20. Christopher Parsons, 4. Michael Glassock, 5. Zygmund Gordon, 6. Jack Simmons (19. Gianni Di Pizio 81’), 8. Sam Mchillhaton, 9. Oliver Puflett (14. Michael Vakis 60’), 11. Adam Parkhouse, 12. Zac Zoricich, 15. William Mutch, 29. George Antonis (18. Teng Kuol 48’), 99. Roy O’Donovan.
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Montgomery Partington, 10. Darcy Burgess, 17. Abraham Majok,
Yellow Cards: Mchillhaton 4’, Gordon 46’, Parsons 95’
Red Cards:
Player Ratings
3- Roy O’Donovan (SO)
2- Adam Parkhouse (SO)
1- Ziggy Gordon (SO)
By Justin Smith
