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Canberra Olympic no match for Howling Wolves

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NPL NSW Men’s Premiers Wollongong Wolves have qualified for NPL Finals Series Semi-Finals after easily accounting for Capital Football Premiers Canberra Olympic 5-1 at a windy Albert Butler Park on Saturday.

Although Canberra started the brighter of the two it was the Wolves who hit the lead in the 36th minute via a clever striker from Lachlan Scott.

Their lead doubled three minutes from the break with NPL NSW Men’s Player of the Year and Golden Boot winner Thomas James slotting from the spot.

The Wolves smelt more blood as James Stojcevski added a third in the 49th minute before big defender Nick Littler put the game beyond reach in the 54th minute with a well taken goal.

Olympic did pull one back thanks to Nik Popovich but Stefan Dimoski made sure the hosts would be the last ones to score bagging one with two minutes left to send Luke Wilkshire’s men to the semi-final of the NPL Finals Series where they’ll face either Heidelberg United or Perth SC next weekend, the two teams playing each other tomorrow (Sunday 22nd September) at 4:30pm.

Wolves prepare for Canberra Olympic clash

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Albert Butler Park will be full of energy this Saturday as NPL NSW Men’s Premiers Wollongong Wolves will lock horns with the NPL Capital Football’s best in Canberra Olympic as round 1 of the 2019 NPL Finals Series takes centre stage.

Luke Wilkshire and his troops have been on hiatus for the last two weeks after winning the Premiership by a margin of nine points, only to be bundled out of the NPL NSW Finals Series after successive losses to overall Champions APIA Leichhardt Tigers and Sydney United 58.

Canberra Olympic, after winning their respective Premiership, also suffered the same fate as the Wolves as they were knocked out of the finals series which was last weekend won by Gungahlin United.

Since their shock Finals departure, the Wolves have been busily training and playing friendly clashes against A-League opposition, preparing for their big NPL Finals Series clash against a hungry Canberra Olympic outfit coached by Frank Cachia.

Going into the match as clear favourites, the Wolves are hoping they can represent NSW with pride by bringing back the NPL Finals Trophy to the state as well as locking down a round of 32 FFA Cup spot in 2020.

One key figure that will surely be in and amongst the action is Wolves’ star attacker and recently crowned Gold Medal Player of the Year, Thomas James.

The 26-year-old had an outstanding season and was rewarded for his efforts at the recent Gold Medal dinner not only scooping the Player of the Year award but the Golden Boot as well.

No stranger to playing opposition in Canberra, James was this year plucked from the NPL ACT competition as he played for Olympic’s rivals Canberra FC in 2018.

Asked what his thoughts were going into this match, James was full of confidence.

“I can see us breezing past Canberra Olympic,” he told Football NSW.

“This is where it gets tricky, but I see us in the NPL Finals taking on Campbelltown City.”

Beaming from a solid year, James stated his high hopes for the club’s run in the NPL Finals Series and even mentioned how the actual NPL Finals Series match will play out.

“The NPL Finals Series will end dramatically as we will score a last-minute winner courtesy of Taylor McDonald who will be on the end of a sublime cross by me,” he cheekily stated.

Canberra Olympic by no means will be a pushover and do possess a few stars of their own, one in particular being former Australian Youth International Kofi Danning who will look at stinging the net on Saturday.

He, along with prolific marksman Stephen Domenici, young gun Nick Faust, Daniel Sparrow and Nik Popovich will be thriving on the ‘underdogs’ tag in hoping they can stun the Wolves.

The winner of this clash that kicks off at 3pm will face the winner of either Victorian top guns Heidelberg United or Football West’s Perth SC in the semi-final with the other matches seeing Maitland battling Devonport Strikers and Lions FC taking on Campbelltown City.

Match Details

Saturday 21st September

Wollongong Wolves v Canberra Olympic

Albert Butler Park – 3pm

*To be streamed live on www.nationalpremierleagues.com.au

Miro Vlastelica steps down as Sydney United 58 coach

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National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s Grand Finalists Sydney United 58 will be on the hunt for a new coach for season 2020 after Miro Vlastelica announced that he was stepping down from the head coaching role at the club.

Vlastelica cited personal reasons for his decisions to step away from the Reds coaching job.

“I would like to announce that I have decided to step down as head coach due to personal reasons.

“The last 18 months at this great club, have been an absolute pleasure, honour, and even more so, a privilege to be involved with.

“I would like to thank all the players and my support staff for their dedication and hard work during this time.

“Also, I would like to thank the Club and Committee Members for all their support and for all the work they have put in behind the scenes, that many do not see.

“To all the supporters, I would like to thank you all for your support throughout the year, you guys were amazing, and truly are the best in the country

“Finally, I would like to wish the team and the club the very best for the coming season.”

It is rumoured that former Sydney United 58 legend Zeljko ‘Spider’ Kalac could be Vlastelica’s successor.

Persistence pays off for Yianni Nicolaou

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After trialing in Scotland at the end of 2018, 19-year-old defender Yianni Nicolaou then returned to Marconi Stallions FC.

He played 15 games in the Stallions FC NPL 1 team in 2019 before leaving mid-season to trial with English League 2 team, Salford City.

His persistence was rewarded, he was signed to a one-year contract with an option to extend.

He joined the newly promoted club following a successful trial.

Salford City have been promoted in four of their last five seasons and are currently 15th after 5 matches in the English 4th Division.

The club is “part owned” by former Manchester United team mates Phil and Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and David Beckham.

Nicolaou, was a member of the Waratah Cup winning team in 2019 after making his first-grade debut this season. He became a “regular” in the team

He has come up “through the system” in Australia, starting out at the Football NSW Institute of Sport and Westfield Sports High before joining Marconi Stallions FC.

The defender represented Australia at the AFC Under 16 Championships in 2016.

Australian born, Nicolaou is expected to be spending his time with the Salford City youth team set up. This boasts a University, begun by club owners to offer degrees for players to build life skills outside of football.

Stallions helping to save lives

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Marconi Stallions First Grade Coach Peter Tsekenis is “educating “his players in how to handle potential “health situations on and off the field”.

After attending a Fund Raiser recently, he was curious as to how the Marconi Stallions FC would handle a potential “life and death situation” requiring the use of a defibrillator.  He was concerned that the club was not equipped or educated to handle such a situation.

What would we do? This question prompted him to invite Andy Paschalidis from the Heartbeat of Football to address and demonstrate the defibrillator to his first grade playing squad.

The organization is a non-for-profit charity which promotes healthy hearts in sport via player education including understanding the use of the defibrillator machine.

The aim was to increase the players awareness and provide a safeguard should a potential “heart stopping” moment occur.

“We would never forgive ourselves if such a situation arose and we were unable to handle a potential life-threatening crisis.”

“Knowing about CPR is so important.”

Following the visit by the Heartbeat of Football every player and official in the first-grade squad is now aware of the defibrillator, its location and most importantly, how to use it should such a situation eventuate.

This is a starting point for Marconi Stallions FC, this proactive approach with the first grade NPL  team will be followed by the Under 20 and Under 18 Boys Youth teams and the Senior Women’s Teams all becoming more aware of CPR and becoming educated to handle a potential life-threatening situation.