Newcastle Olympic struggled against Maitland FC losing 1-0 in Reserve Grade and drawing 1-1 in First Grade. Reserve Grade lost in the 87th minute a match which they should have won while First Grade drew a game during which the referee dished out eight yellow cards and one red!
Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade saw their 10 consecutive game winning streak come to an end when they conceded a goal in the 87th minute despite having many chances to score throughout the game. The two highlights of the game were poor finishing by both teams and inconsistent refereeing!
Olympic began the game well with an appeal for a penalty coming within the first minute of the game when midfielder George Tsamouras was brought down inside the box! This was followed by two further incidents involving Jed Hornery who was brought down twice in the box and the referee waved on play before the disbelieving eyes of the Olympic faithful!
What followed were some physical challenges that were waved on by the referee while others were pulled up! Olympic had the chance to open the score with two well struck shots by Walshe in the 30th and Steinerts in the 34th minute that were saved by the Maitland keeper and a volley by Tsamouras in the 41st minute that shaded the wrong side of the post! Olympic had 11 shots on goal to Maitland’s 4 by the end of the half.
With the start of the second half Jed Hornery charged towards goal and after side stepping a Maitland defender and lining up a shot with only the goalkeeper to beat, he was pulled down from behind by the defender with both arms stretched over his shoulders! This was a classic case of a “professional foul” but the referee only gave the defender a yellow card!
Olympic continued to pressure the Maitland goal and came close 5 minutes later through a header by Lucas Walshe which grazed the post! In the 64th minute a good combination between Townsend and Walshe resulted in a cross which deflected off a Maitland player and came off the post! Maitland also had some shots on goal but also to no avail.
In the 79th minute the most controversial incident of the game occurred. During a physical challenge in the middle of the field Louis Townsend was shown a yellow card and a foul was given to Maitland. While the Maitland team prepared to take the free kick the referee consulted his linesman, returned and showed the Olympic player a straight red!
As soon as play resumed a Maitland cross from the right found the hand of an Olympic defender and the referee pointed to the penalty spot! Suddenly, a game which Olympic was dominating but was unable to score looked like it was about to be lost! Maitland took the penalty and the Olympic goalkeeper, Issac Quinn, pulled off a double save to keep the ball out of his net!
The golden rule in football, if you fail to capitalize when you dominate you get punished in the end, applied to this game too. A through ball by Maitland in the 87th minute found an attacking player who had enough time to shoot and despite a great effort by Issac Quinn, the Olympic keeper was unable to stop the ball from bouncing into his net.
Maitland players were over the moon with the goal and result while the ten game winning streak by Olympic came to an end.
Newcastle Olympic First Grade continued with a 4-4-2 formation, the same as in the match with Valentine, in the Round 16 NPL match with Maitland FC. In the first 15 minutes the game was even with neither team being able to find openings and looking to maintain possession.
In the 16th minute the Maitland goalkeeper failed to come off his line to collect the ball and a number of headers inside the box resulted in the ball falling at the feet of Roy O’Donovan who scored from a position harder to miss! By the half hour mark, little had changed with both teams trying to exploit the flanks but with very little goal mouth action at either end.
Slowly the tempo of the game began to rise with play being switched from right to left and vice versa. Maitland had a goal disallowed for offside in the 40th minute but despite the quick movement of the ball neither side was able to open each other’s defense with a clear goal scoring opportunity. Just before half time it was Olympics’ turn to score from an offside position. By half time, Olympic had recorded only 3 shots at goal to Maitland’s 2!
The second half was a mirror of the first with quick movement of the ball by both teams but little goal mouth action. Maitland’s equalizer came in the 59th minute when the Olympic goalkeeper failed to hold a long rang effort and the rebound landed at the feet of a Magpie forward who had no difficulty guiding the ball to the back of the net.
The half continued with individual flashes of brilliance by players in front of goal but due to the numbers in defense by both teams, no breach could be made to the stalemate. As the game wore on fatigue began to set in and yellow cards began to take their toll. The culmination occurred in the 85th minute when a two footed tackle from behind resulted in Roy O’Donovan seeing a red card and Olympic being reduced to 10 players until the end of the match. The game ended 1-1 which is a fair result based on the efforts of both teams.
Source: Tom Tsamouras
George Tsamouras Football Journey 