Olympic keep top six hopes alive with victory
Sydney Olympic were able to stand tallest in their battle with Sydney FC, beating the youngsters 2-0 at the Ilinden Sports Centre on a chilly Friday night to edge ever close to the top six.
The two sides played out a hard-fought clash with chances few and far between, though the visitors ultimately were able to do enough to secure an important three points and advance their goal of earning finals football.
Olympic took the lead in the 27th minute after a clever quick free kick saw Seth Clark pass the ball to Adam Parkhouse, with the Olympic captain then delivering a great cross that Cyrus Dehmie managed to head home into the bottom left.
The Sky Blues’ best chance of the opening half fell in the 44th minute when a shot from Junior Conde took a dangerous deflection off Zac Zoricich’s boot, with the ball curling just wide of the left post.
Olympic midfielder Seth Clark came very close to scoring a wonderful goal in the 58th minute after releasing a fantastic curling effort from just inside the right side of the box towards the top left of the goal, though the ball went just wide of the post.
Sydney FC nearly found an equaliser in the 61st minute after a corner kick fell to Conde, whose cross back it back into the box was headed on by Mathias Macallister towards goal only for Clark to clear it off the line.
A frenetic 84th minute saw the Sky Blues nearly score through a Taye Hedley effort towards the right that was saved strongly by Jack Gibson, with the travellers then counter attacking via Ryan Freutz as the winger drove forward and had a grounded shot himself that was claimed by Gus Hoefsloot.
Sky Blues attacker Akol Akon went for the spectacular with a bicycle kick in the 88th minute that went wide.
Olympic wrapped up the points in the same minute in even more remarkable fashion when Freutz saw Hoefsloot was off his line and struck the ball from well outside the box into the back of the net for one of the goals of the season.
Sydney Olympic coach Labinot Haliti noted the importance of his team’s professionalism and discipline in helping them earn the much-needed win.
“The structure was good.
“We just needed to stay in the game and be smart, and we took our chances when we had them.” Haliti told
Reflecting on the goals, including Freutz’s stellar effort, Haliti stressed the significance of a good collective performance in allowing the players to step up in the key moments.
“The team gives you the platform to do that. When the team is doing their job, then the individuals come up.”
Match Stats
Sydney FC 0
Sydney Olympic 2 (Cyrus Dehmie 27’, Ryan Freutz 88’)
Saturday 4 July
Ilinden Sports Centre
Referee: Kelly Jones
Assistant Referees: Isaac Riggs and Jackson Tippett
Fourth Official: Adam Maher
Sydney FC: 30. Gus Hoefsloot, 3. Kyle Shaw, 5. Ethan Dyer (6. Tyler Williams 46’), 9. Mathias Macallister, 10. Taye Hedley, 14. Jared Middleton (4. Joseph Calusic 76’), 15. Samuel Lancaster (39. Dylan Rose 46’), 17. Jacob McLachlan (8. Reef Farias 81’), 20. Oscar Gultekin, 23. Junior Conde (44. Akol Akon 65’), 29. Joe Lacey
Substitutes Not Used: 12. Alexander Zaverdinos
Yellow Cards: Samuel Lancaster 16’, Kyle Shaw 28’, Jared Middleton 72’
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney Olympic: 1. Jack Gibson, 5. Ziggy Gordon, 9. Cyrus Dehmie (7. Michael Vakis 90+2’), 10. Jack Armson, 11. Adam Parkhouse (16. Bailey Callaghan 81’), 12. Zac Zoricich (6. Thomas Wiffen 90+2’), 14. Seth Clark, 15. Luca Pecora (17. Joshua Hong 90+2’), 18. Teng Kuol, 22. Dylan Ruiz-Diaz (19. Ryan Feutz 68’), 28. Samuel Bosnjak
Substitutes Not Used: 13. Monty Partington (GK), 16. Bailey Callaghan
Yellow Cards: Teng Kuol 87’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3: Seth Clark (SO)
2: Luca Pecora (SO)
1: Cyrus Dehmie (SO)
-By Dimitri Kallos
