Olympic woes continue as St George City win via Keremelevski strike
St George City FA have gained an important 1-0 victory over Sydney Olympic with an impressive performance at Penshurst Park on a rain sodden Saturday evening.
The opening minutes of the match were hotly contested, with both sides getting early shots away in search of a crucial opener.
In the 15th minute, St George had the first substantial opportunity of the match off the aftermath of a corner kick.
A high, whipped cross from Cameron Fong was met by a darting, alert run from Kosta Petratos at the back post.
The winger made contact with the ball, and looked to bounce the ball over the outstretched glove of Noah James, but the goalkeeper made a brilliant save to tip the shot over the frame of the goal.
St George then attacked once more with a flurry of threatening shots outside the box, which were blocked strongly by Olympic’s backline.
The home side then threatened off another set piece, with an inswinging corner from Petratos finding Brodie Clarkson at the far post, but the deep-lying midfielder couldn’t convert, squaring the ball back across rather then looking to find the open net with a poke.
However, St George found their lead in the 25th minute with a sensational goal from Matthew Keremelevski.
The central defender chested down a Sydney Olympic clearance out of the air and and strode forwards with intent, before exchanging a slick one-two with the active Presley Ortiz.
Keremelevski took another positive touch forwards to the centre of the edge of the box, and thundered home a terrific clinical strike into the bottom right corner to open the scoring at Penshurst Park.
Just before the halftime break, St George almost doubled their lead on two occasions.
A stunning long range effort from Paolo M first rippled the side netting, before Ortiz was released off a rapid counterattack, but couldn’t bury a sidefooted effort past James in a disappointing end to a good chance.
Just minutes into the second half, St George threatened again, with a clever pass from Ortiz finding Petratos on the edge of the box.
The winger advanced into the area and made space to strike, but shot tamely at James, allowing the goalkeeper to make a thankful save in what could have very well been a second for the home side.
A twenty-minute break to the match shortly followed as a result of lighting, but when the game resumed, the intensity was higher than ever.
St George, who had dominated thus far, creating an abundance of opportunities and conceding few, picked up where they left off, with a Fumodo Kamata cross finding the head of Jason Romero, who threatened with a header over the bar.
In the 60th minute, Sydney Olympic were given their golden opportunity to draw the score levels and turn the game on its head.
A misplaced attempted header back from Keremelevski was pounced upon by Roy O’Donovan, who took a touch round goalkeeper Kenny.
His sideways touch meant he had to readjust before striking, but the goal was at his mercy with just the retreating Solomon-Johnn Monohan Vaiika and Keremelevski covering the net.
O’Donovan lined up and unleashed his effort, but Monohan Vaiika made a stunning clearance off the line to keep his sides advantage in-tact, in a match defining moment at Penshurst Park.
St George then created another chance to double their lead, with a one-two between Petratos and Mitry seeing the latter play a dangerous square pass to the former in the box, but Petratos’ near-post effort was denied by the firm hand of Noah James.
In a match that was ever-increasing in its excitement, Olympic then created a good opportunity to equalise.
A fantastic, electric run from Vakis took him around Cameron Fong and into the box, but with a clear pass back to O’Donovan and a tap in the only thing standing between Olympic and a goal, the winger misread his teammate’s run, and couldn’t find the Irishman with his cutback.
An O’Donovan strike off a Parkhouse cross was then easily saved by Jack Kenny, but the momentum was starting to sway in favour of the away side at Penshurst Park.
Olympic made attacking substitutions, but struggled to threaten over the next twenty minutes, as St George remained relatively comfortably despite defending their one goal lead.
In injury time, a sensational run from Ortiz – a beautiful mixture of poise and power – allowed him to round Gordon and find space for a strike inside the box, but the striker couldn’t end his incredible run in style, as his shot cannoned wide of the goal.
“It was a good performance until we stopped, with the lightning still far away,” said St George coach Mirko Jurilj.
“That killed us in terms of momentum, but we should have put the game to bed in the first half.
“We had two other great opportunities but that’s been the story of our season.
“The first 55 was good, the last 35 were no good at all but we’ll take the win – we’re a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde team at the moment, one week we’re good, next week we’re not good, so we need to start improving on that.”
Match Stats
St George City FA 1 (Keremelevski 25’)
Sydney Olympic FC 0
Saturday 1 June, 2024
Penshurst Park
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistant Referees: Alessandro Llana and Ethan Zvargulis
Fourth Official: Rowan Fisher
St George City FA: 1. Jack Kenny, 2. Cameron Fong, 4. Solomon-Johnn Monohan Vaiika, 5. Fumoto Kamada, 10. Jason Romero (C) (9. Yerasimakis Petratos 77’), 11. Kosta Petratos, 14. Paolo Mitry (7. Nathan Roberts 77’), 25. Brodie Clarkson, 30. Presley Ortiz (19. Jesse Photi 90’), 33. Louis Khoury, 99. Matthew Keremelevski
Substitutes Not Used: 21. Ryan Reid, 38. Kai Kamikura, 88. Mohammed Khamis
Yellow Cards: Keremelevski 26’
Red Cards: None
Sydney Olympic FC: 1. Noah James, 2. Peter Politis (15. William Mutch 45’), 4. George Timotheou (C), 5. Zygmunt Gordon, 6. Jack Simmons (99. Roy O’Donovan 45’), 8. Sam Mcillhatton (9. Oliver Puflett 81’), 11. Adam Parkhouse (10. Darcy Burgess 81’), 12. Zac Zoricich, 14. Michael Vakis, 18. Teng Kuol, 19. Gianni Di Pizio (17. Abraham Majok 70’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Christopher Parsons
Yellow Cards: Vakis 20’, Politis 28’
Red Cards: None
Player ratings:
3 – Solomon-Johnn Monohan Vaiika (SG)
2 – Presley Ortiz (SG)
1 – Matthew Keremelevski (SG)
By Jack George (@JackGeorge0004)
