Blacktown City have continued its run to embed itself into the top six and playing finals football following a thrilling 1-0 win over Sydney Olympic on Sunday at Landen Stadium, a victory that also put the brakes on the Blues’ run for a finals spot.
Playing in pristine conditions, both teams weren’t afraid to go all out for the win.
It was Danny Choi’s inside ball to Tyren Burnie in the 60th minute that separated both teams as City took all three points leaving Olympic with a mountain to climb in clinching a finals spot.
Blacktown and Sydney began their encounter like a standoff, with neither team willing to concede first as Mitchell Mallia saw his dangerous pass inside the box headed away by William Mutch.
Down the other end of the field, Roy O’Donovan would’ve found himself through on goals if it weren’t for a bullet-headed clearance from the hosts.
In the ninth minute of play, the hosts were unlucky not to have taken the lead as Nicholas O’Brien had both of his back-to-back shots thwarted with an initial block from Tyren Burnie while the ball thudded off Joey Gibbs going out of play.
Choi continued to be influential for Blacktown with a couple of opportunities of his own as City’s star man continued to put a stamp on the game with his quality and presence.
In the 21st minute Mallia headed over inches away from goals after the brilliant inside ball from his attacking counterpart and just a few moments later his powerful run inside Olympic’s half was disposed of by Mutch as the visitors were raring through on goals.
Towards the end of the half, the visitors threatened via Martin Fernandez in the 34th minute who fired just over the goals and then in the 41st minute saw Christopher Parsons tip the ball over the right-hand post as he was pushed back into a difficult position.
Finally, Blacktown’s efforts paid off in the 60th minute when Burnie ran onto a perfectly waited Choi ball to fire home wide of Parsons to open the scoring.
In the 71st minute Tristan Prendergast came to the rescue for Blacktown as he smothered away O’Donovan’s close-range attempt.
Teng Kuol also tested the opposition keeper as his well-placed shot bounced off Prendergast’s leg and away from the goals.
With Olympic continuing to search for an equaliser, Adam Parkhouse nearly salvaged one in the 82nd minute only for Prendergast to jump higher than the opposition surrounding him following Parkhouse’s free kick.
Kuol was next to come up just short for the Blues as he curled his shot inches wide of the post four-minutes from fulltime with Olympics’ desperation on full display with Blacktown ultimately holding on for the dramatic victory.
It was a big win for the hosts as they gave it they’re all on Wednesday playing a 120 minutes of football in their unfortunate loss to Adelaide United in the Australia Cup Round of 32.
City’s big man underneath the posts Tristan Prendergast cut a pragmatic figure following the fulltime whistle.
“Today we carried on from our Wednesday night performance against Adelaide United in the Australia Cup. The boys dug deep and we got a gritty result.
“For Sydney Olympic, they have a lot of quality up top, and it was something we were aware of. We had to stay switched on to stop them and particularly for myself at the end of the game, I had to be ready to close them down in goals.
“While looking to the end of the season, the boys are full of confidence and ready for the finals.
“We believe that we can go all the way and claim the Championship.”
Match Stats
Blacktown City 1 (Tyren Burnie 60’)
Sydney Olympic 0
Sunday 04 August 2024
Landen Stadium, Seven Hills
Referee: Craig Fisher
Assistant Referees: Cameron Wright and Arinath Gobinath
Fourth Official: Ethan Zvargulis
Blacktown City: 1.Tristan Prendergast, (4.Lachlan Campbell 77’), 5. Grant Lynch (6.Adam Berry 69’), 7.Travis Major, (9.Reuben Awaritefe 85’), 11.Danny Choi, 12.Tyren Burnie, 14.Mitchell Mallia, 17.Martin Fernandez, 18.Nicholas O’Brien, (19.Julian Rodriguez 85’), 22.Jacob Maniti, 23.Joey Gibbs, 24.Jackson Bandiera
Unused subs: 20.Cayden Henderson
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 4.Michael Glassock, 5.Zygmunt Gordon, 6.Jack Simmons, 8.Sam Mcillhatton, 9.Oliver Puflett, (10.Darcy Burgess 60’), 11.Adam Parkhouse, 12.Zac Zoricich, (13.Liam Rippon 78’), (14.Michael Vakis 60’), 15.William Mutch, (18.Teng Kuol 60’), (19.Gianni Di Pizio 78’), 20.Christopher Parsons, 29.George Antonis, 99.Roy O’Donovan
Unused subs: 1.Montgomery Partington
Yellow cards: (Zygmunt Gordon 54’)
Red cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3: Tristan Prendergast (BC)
2: Danny Choi (BC)
1: Tyren Burnie (BC)
-By Tobias Canning
