Olympic undone by spirited Wanderers
The youthful Western Sydney Wanderers claimed its first big scalp of the 2025 National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW season downing one of the league’s heavyweights Sydney Olympic 1-0 in a hot and humid Saturday afternoon at the Belmore Sports Ground.
It was a game where the home side created the majority of chances but as so often occurs in football, the opposition grabbed the unexpected victory when the chances were not converted.
A harsh lesson learnt for Sydney Olympic but full marks to the young academy side of the Western Sydney Wanderers for their perseverance and never-say-die attitude in what proved to be a very entertaining game.
The first real action of the game arrived in the 8th minute when a looping cross from the right by Seth Clark reached former Wanderer Teng Kuol in the middle but his glancing header without too much power on it went wide for the home side.
Sydney Olympic had a golden chance with Cyrus Dehmie who received a beautiful through ball before sprinting towards goal, but with only the goalkeeper to beat, Mellwethu Nikomo intervened with an amazingly timed tackle to send the ball wide for a corner in the 16th minute. It was indeed a masterpiece of defending to save a certain goal.
Dehmie again was in the middle of the action midway through the first half when a cross from the left reached him in the centre but his shot on the turn was wonderfully stopped by ‘keeper Tristan Vidackovic.
The Wanderers first real opportunity arrived in the 27th minute when a long cross from the left by Nikomo reached Kaan Nizam, but the young gun’s header from close range sailed narrowly wide of the goal.
Sydney Olympic came ever so close again in the 34th minute to open the scoring. A diagonal shot from Adam Parkhouse on the left rebounded off defender Ricky Fransen and went out.
A late diagonal shot by Dehmie required goalkeeper intervention prior to the break as both sides went into the sheds scoreless after an entertaining first half.
The first opportunity of the second stanza of play belonged to Sydney Olympic when Parkhouse was given far too much space on the left in the 52nd minute and his shot on target required some neat defending from the young Wanderers side to thwart the danger.
A few minutes later the Blues again couldn’t believe how they were denied when Parkhouse found Jack Armson but his close-range shot was blocked commendably by the young Western Sydney defence.
In the 67th minute Sydney Olympic hit the post through a Dehmie shot from close range and, luckily for the Wanderers, the ball bounced back into the arms of the waiting Vidackovic.
A minute later a powerful Zac Zoricich shot from the right brought out the best in Vidackovic and, once again, the Wanderers breathed a collective sigh of relief.
After absorbing all those chances, it was the young Wanderers that struck gold on the 75th minute mark when Awan Lual fired from just inside the box and the ball ended up in the back of the net. It’s so often the case in football that the team that absorbed so much pressure was now ahead.
Sydney Olympic were far from done when in the 79th minute a Michael Vakis cross from right reached Kuol but he fired just over the crossbar, while the Wanderers were protesting about a foul at the other end of the field.
Late in the encounter a Johnny Pavlovic drive from outside the box for the visitors forced former Wanderer Jack Gibson into a diving save in what was the last real goal-scoring opportunity of the encounter.
After the game Wanderers coach and former Sydney Olympic junior Richie Cardozo was very pleased with his young side’s efforts.
“There were moments in the game today where we controlled possession and were comfortable, but with we also need to learn to stay switched on in those moments where you are under the pump a bit,” he said
“Last week our average age was 17-18 and it was even younger this week as we saw that with two 15-year-old boys who came on for their debut.
“Awan Lual, who scored our goal, has just come back from injury and we would love to have him a bit more, so we need to protect him with limited game time
“This week I am very happy that we got the three points, and I think we deserved the three points also last week but we missed some chances and settled for a draw. Today the players showed a lot of maturity, and it was a great effort from them all.”
The mood was sombre in the Sydney Olympic dressing room, but coach Labinot Haliti was realistic about what had occurred
“We had a few had clear-cut chances but at the end of the day if you can’t score, you get punished,” he said.
“They [Wanderers] are a good side, and they took their chance when they got it.
“The way we created so many chances and not to take at least one of them is a bit disappointing, but you need to earn everything as you won’t be given anything in this league
“The Wanderers gave us a good game, but anyone here today could see that it seemed only a matter of time before we scored, but the goal in the end didn’t come.”
Match Stats
SYDNEY OLYMPIC: 0
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS: 1 (Lual 75’)
Saturday 14th February 2025
Belmore Sports Ground
Referee: Hayden Langholz
Assistant referees: Nick Gela, Blake Sanchez-Cruz
Fourth Official: Jasper White
SYDNEY OLYMPIC: 1. Jack Gibson, 3. Connor O’Toole, 5. Ziggy Gordon, 8. Sam McIllhatton (19. Gianni Di Pizio 78’), 9. Cyrus Dehmie (6. Thomas Wiffen 70’), 10. Jack Armson, 11. Adam Parkhouse (7. Michael Vakis 76’), 12. Zac Zoricich, 14. Seth Clark (22. Dylan Ruiz-Diaz 76’), 18. Teng Kuol, 28. Doni Grdic.
Substitutes not used: 13. Monty Partington, 17. Joshua Hong.
Yellow Card: Kuol 19’
Red Cards: Nil
WS WANDERERS FC: 1. Tristan Vidackovic, 2. Nathan Barrie, 4. Ricky Fransen, 8. Nicholas Badolato (26. Anthony Barbic 70’), 11. Kaan Nizam (10. Johnny Pavlovic 63’), 22. Jesse Cameron, 27. Julian Cop, 31. Aidan Simmons, 34. Mellwethu Nikomo, 38. Noah Peacock (18. Awan Lual 63’) 39. Kade Baccus (36. Akol Akon 70’).
Substitutes not used: 5. Lachlan Tilt, 20. Luca Sinnott.
Yellow Cards: Cameron 20’, Barrie 56’, Simmons 93’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Aidan Simmons (WSW)
2 – Connor O’Toole (SO)
1 – Mellwethu Nikomo (WSW)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
