Olympic secure Easter delight with dominant win over Spirit
Sydney Olympic mustered an impressive effort to down an out of sorts NWS Spirit FC 3-0 at Belmore Sports Ground on Saturday evening, putting them in strong contention for the top six.
The Blues put together one of their performances of the season with their round 11 victory while it was back-to-back losses for Spirit who started the year off brightly but have since shown major signs of complacency.
Olympic squandered a fantastic chance in the fourth minute when a rapid counter-attack saw Michael Vakis go through on the right, with the winger’s ball across goal missing a free Cyrus Dehmie who would have been perfectly placed to tap it in.
The hosts then came close again a minute later when right back Joshua Hong passed the ball across the box to Vakis only for his shot to be kept out by goalkeeper Christopher Marques, with the rebound falling to Dehmie as he forced another good save out of the Spirit shot stopper.
The visitors settled back into the game and created some danger of their own, with Jordan Perez unleashing a strong shot in the 16th minute that was blocked nicely by Olympic’s Ziggy Gordon.
Seth Clark nearly put the hosts in front in the 19th minute after driving the ball into the box following a corner, though the midfielder’s powerful effort went just over the top of the crossbar.
The Blues eventually broke through in the 26th minute via Vakis who, after receiving the ball from Teng Kuol, took the ball on the right and drilled it low and into the back of the net.
Olympic was inches away from making it two inside the first minute of the second half, with Kuol taking a shot from a tough angle on the left side of the box that narrowly went wide of the right post.
Spirit nearly levelled the game in the 48th minute through Bradie Smith, though goalkeeper Jack Gibson put a strong foot out to protect his goal.
The hosts then made it two via Dehmie in the 50th minute, who pounced on a lovely flick by Kuol that played him through into the box and knocked it into the bottom right.
Kuol then grabbed a goal of his own in the 66th minute, thanks largely to Vakis’ excellent dribble down the right flank and low cross in that the attacker was able to knock in from close range.
Spirit came agonisingly close to grabbing a consolation goal in the 85th minute when Takumi Ofuka released a great strike that was knocked onto the left post by Gibson.
Sydney Olympic coach Labinot Haliti noted the strong efforts from his players in the game, praising the result especially given that there is always an external pressure on the club to perform.
“We prepared well and I think tactically we got it spot on but it’s not about tactics. The boys turned up and they have been good the last few weeks,” Haliti told Football NSW.
“We are a club where every result gets scrutinised. We are aware of it. We are fine with it and we keep carrying on with what we are doing.”
The Olympic manager stressed that they must take it one game at a time given the threat each club in the competition poses.
“I said it a few weeks ago, in this competition everyone presents different challenges so you have to turn up on the day and you have got to make sure you are spot on with the things you want to do and then it is up to the players to execute it,” Haliti said.
“There are days like today where they executed it well. On other days we have been good but didn’t execute it, but you just focus on the next game.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic 3 (Michael Vakis 26’, Cyrus Dehmie 50’, Teng Kuol 66’)
NWS Spirit 0
Saturday 19 April
Belmore Sports Ground
Referee: Jake Rose
Assistant Referees: Aaron Bloch and Matthew Harris
Fourth Official: Luke Chapman
Sydney Olympic: 1. Jack Gibson, 5. Ziggy Gordon, 7. Michael Vakis (22. Dylan Ruiz-Diaz 68’), 9. Cyrus Dehmie, 10. Jack Armson, 11. Adam Parkhouse (16. Bailey Callaghan 90+2’), 12. Zac Zoricich, 14. Seth Clark, 17. Joshua Hong (23. Jackson Fowler 90+2’), 18. Teng Kuol (19. Gianni Di Pizio 72’), 28. Doni Grdic
Substitutes Not Used: 13. Monty Partington
Yellow Cards: Cyrus Dehmie 30’
Red Cards: Nil
NWS Spirit: 1. Christopher Marques, 4. Bradie Smith, 5. Jordan Perez (16. Charlie Broomhead 68’), 6. Corey Kavanagh (20. Austin Oates 87’), 7. Frankie Ljucovic (3. Kyah Williams 68’), 9. Yu Okubo (31. Thomas Mason 87’), 13. Simon Nicholas, 15. Jamie Percevski, 19. Zayne Ahluwalia, 21. Harry Keys (10. Michael Konestabo 61’), 22. Takumi Ofuka
Substitutes Not Used: 51. Christopher Chen
Yellow Cards: Frankie Ljucovic 21’, Yu Okubo 65’. Jamie Percevski 86’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3: Teng Kuol (SO)
2: Michael Vakis (SO)
1: Seth Clark (SO)
-By Dimitri Kallos
