Newcastle Olympic defeated Lambton Jaffas 3-1 in both Grades at Darling St Oval to cement Reserve Grade’s lead and resurrect First Grade’s chances for a top 5 finish! Olympic dominated both games and deserved the 3 points attained.
Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade, at full strength, had little problem dominating a quality Lambton Jaffas and securing 3 points on Sunday afternoon! With a ratio of 10 to 3 of shots on target and a 10-2 corner count, the hunger and domination of Olympic was obvious. They completed the demolition of Jaffas within 30 minutes through goals from Charlie Halls 13’, Lucas Walshe 23’ and Jed Hornery 30’.
They then spent the rest of the game ensuring their opponents couldn’t get back into the game by being compact and seeking to catch them on the counterattack. Jaffas played a high press game and were able to secure a consolation goal through Joshua Culjak in the 50th minute but they never even looked like threatening to get a result.
This was the 11th win of the season for Olympic, after a loss and draw over the past two games against Maitland and Broadmeadow Magic. It was a match they had to win to ensure they could lead the table into the final 7 games of the season. The reason why it is important is because it was achieved against a Jaffas side which entered the game following a 5-game winning streak.
Olympic now have a recovery day on Monday and on Tuesday night take on Belmont Swansea United FC at Speers Point in a wash out fixture from Round 11.
Newcastle Olympic First Grade recorded their 5th win of the season and their first since Round 8, 14th April! Although their game with Jaffas was a lot more even, proceedings began with a stunning shot from distance from young Adam Zervas in 17th minute. Jaffas replied in the 28th minute with an equally impressive goal by ex-Olympic player Lachlan Griffiths.
Roy O’Donovan put Olympic 2-1 ahead in the first minute of the second half and an own goal in the 58th minute by Jaffas gave the home side the cushion they needed to see out the long-awaited win.
This brings Olympic back into 5th spot on 21 points with Charlestown in 4th spot on 24. Several teams with games in hand just outside the top 5 could still claim 5th spot but from now until the end of the season 4th and 5th are the only positions up for grabs given that the first three belong to Edgeworth, Broadmeadow Magic and Weston!
Hopefully this win can propel Olympic to a burst of winning form on the final 6 First Grade games of the season.
Source: Tom Tsamouras
George Tsamouras Football Journey 