Hamilton Olympic defeated Maitland at Cook Square Park in the last game in Round 1 of the 2015 NPL Competition.
Within a minute from kick off the Olympic defence was caught napping, forcing goalkeeper Danny Ireland to bring down Joel Woods inside the penalty area! The ensuing penalty was converted into a goal by Blake Thompson, putting Olympic on the back foot from the beginning of the match.
In the next 10 minutes Olympic struggled to settle on a very bumpy surface at Cook Square Park, enabling Maitland to dominate possession and play the game in our third of the field.
As the game wore on, Olympic adapted to the conditions and slowly took over possession and began attacking from the flanks.
In the 37th minute Matt Thompson forced an excellent save from Danny Ireland but a minute later Denis Fajkovic brought down Kane Goodchild inside the penalty box, and from the ensuing penalty, the Olympic forward had no difficulty in sending the Maitland goalkeeper the wrong way.
In the last 10 minutes of the first half Olympic put Maitland under considerable pressure with darting runs from the flanks.
The teams went into half time locked at 1-1.
In the second half Olympic continued to pressure the Maitland goal in search for the second goal while the desperation by the home side to avoid defeat resulted in a small number of scuffles between players from both teams.
In the 70th minute a poor clearance from Maitland goalkeeper Benn Kelly resulted in Simon Mooney intercepting the ball and passing it to Rhys Cooper who fired it over the cross bar!
Seven minutes later Kane Goodchild flicked on a header inside the area to Simon Mooney who didn’t hesitate in burring the ball into the Maitland net and putting Olympic 2-1 up.
Moments later a scramble inside the Maitland penalty box almost resulted in a third goal but the home side were able to clear the ball.
The closing minutes of the game saw Mason Campbell limp off the field and give his place to Cody Lucas while Matt Harper fired a shot into the hands of the Maitland goalkeeper instead of a gaping goal.
It wasn’t pretty but Olympic won the 3 points which leaves it in first place on 21 points, ahead of Weston on 19 and Edgeworth on 18.
Olympic U22s defeated Maitland 2-0 and U19s 3-1.
Next Sunday, Olympic host Broadmeadow Magic at 2.30 at Darling Street Oval.
ROUND 9 NPL RESULTS:
Newcastle Jets Youth – Adamstown Rosebud Fc 1-2
Charlestown City – Broadmeadow Magic 1-0
Maitland – Hamilton Olympic 1-2
South Cardiff – Lambton Jaffas 0-5
Weston Workers – Edgeworth 1-0
TABLE
Hamilton Olympic 21
Weston Workers 19
Edgeworth Eagles 18
Broadmeadow Magic 17
Lambton Jaffas 15
Adamstown Rosebud 12
Newcastle Jets Youth 10
Charlestown City 6
South Cardiff 5
Maitland 4
source: Tom Tsamouras
George Tsamouras Football Journey 