Sydney Olympic have added to Manly United’s horror National Premier Leagues NSW Championship defence toppling the Northern Beaches side 2-1 at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday.
Goals to Jason Madonis and Spanish sensation Alejandro Sanchez in the opening 15 minutes had Olympic in control for the majority of the match before Brendan Cholakian gave the visitors fleeting hope with a converted penalty in the closing stages of the match.
The defeat was Manly’s third consecutive loss to start the season as Paul Dee’s side struggle to get back to the form which led them to the title in 2017.
For Olympic it was a return to form after defeat at APIA Leichhardt Tigers seven days earlier.
Manly had the best of the chances early on with Nikola Taneski’s pace proving too much for Olympic’s Jinya An. However, the lighting quick winger’s finishing touch was lacking as he blasted wide of the net in the second minute
Manly’s wasted chance proved to be a wake up call for Olympic with the home team firing straight into action as Burgess’ silky dribbling skills created a brilliant chance for the midfielder but he too couldn’t hit the back of the net.
While the visitors avoided that salvo, Manly couldn’t stop the rampaging run from Thomas Whiteside moments later who delivered a sumptuous cross into the box which was finished by Sanchez as he pounced on Dylan Mitchell fumble.
Before Manly could regroup Olympic had stretched their lead to 2-0. Burgess made a mazy run into the penalty area before unleashing a curling shot which cannoned off the cross bar and into the path of Jason Madonis who fired into the back of the net.
Olympic found the back of the net for the third time in the 20th minute but the linesman’s flag proved Manly’s saving grace.
Scott Balderson tried to breathe life into Manly’s chances and appeared to be their best chance but was forced from the field after succumbing to injury.
The home side had a vice grip on proceedings going into the interval as Manly’s desperate attempts to fight back into the game proved
Sydney Olympic started the second stanza with the same ferocity they displayed in the first and an incredible effort from Hagi Gligor narrowly missed stretching their advantage.
Manly striker Dylan Macallister thought he had found himself on the scoresheet in the 51st minute but was ruled to be offside.
Cholakian’s industry in midfield was giving the visitors hope and was unlucky not to have scored in the 65th minute when his curling effort from inside the penalty area struck the post after completely bamboozling Olympic shot stopper Paul Henderson.
The persistence of Cholakian paid off with Manly’s captain awarded a penalty in the 81st minute which he coolly converted.
Olympic were in no mood to suffer a last minute defeat and frustrated Manly in the design stages as they earned a well deserved three competition points
Abbas Saad praised the scintillating football his Olympic team played in the first half but felt his team needs to work on their fitness to avoid another second half lapse.
“Fatigue got the better of us in the end. We were great for 60 minutes and the really faded towards the end of the match.
“If you can’t play the full 90 minutes in this competition you won’t be able to do well let alone survive.
“But in saying that when we played well early on I was very impressed with the performance. we are still underdone and to bounce back this week after defeat at APIA is very reassuring.
Manly boss Paul Dee was confident his side could bounce back despite three consecutive defeats.
“Two defensive errors was the difference today,” Dee said.
“We aren’t far away from where we need to be. There were glimpses of that today.
“We have players coming back from injury and there is still plenty of confidence at the club. it is only round three so we aren’t writing anything off just yet.”
Match Stats
Sydney Olympic: 2 (Sanchez 14’ Madonis 15’)
Manly United: 1 (Cholakian 84’)
Sunday, March 25 2018
Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore
Referee: R Mattei
Assistant Referees: R Osbourne, A Verma
Fourth Official: D Horstead
Sydney Olympic: 1. Paul HENDERSON, 2. Thomas WHITESIDE, 4. George TIMOTHEOU, 5. Rafael Jiminez, 6. Nikola KULESKI, 7. William ANGEL (33. Nik TSATTALLIOS 69′) 8. Jason MADONIS (19. Darcy BURGESS 81’), 10. Max BURGESS (21. Stephen ATHANASERIS), 11. Jinya AN, 14. Alejandro SANCHEZ-LOPEZ, 24. Hagi GLIGOR
Substitutes not used: 9. Radovan PAVICEVIC, , 20. Ezequiel CONSONI, ,
Yellow Cards: Kuleski, Timotheu
Red Cards:
Manly United: 1. Dylan MITCHELL,2. Kieran Paull, 3. Jamie LOBB, 4.Travis OUGHTRED, 6. Dominic FERGUSON (14. Mitchell ROOKE 79’) 8. Sasa MACURA, 9. Dylan MACALLISTER (7. Marco SAMA 61′), 10 Brendan CHOLAKIAN, 11. Nikola TANESKI, 13. Scott BALDERSON (22. George FIRTH 40’), 23. Daniel ALESSI
Substitutes not used: 20. Shaun CATLIN, , 12. Leigh EGGER
Yellow Cards: Macallister, Oughtred
Red Cards:
Player Ratings
3- Max Burgess (OLY)
2 – Tom Whiteside (OLY)
1- Brendan Cholakian (MU)
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