Newcastle Olympic returned from the LMRFF in Speers point on Wednesday night with a mixture of emotions. Reserve Grade lost the chance of being crowned Premiers three games before the end after losing 3-2 while First Grade are back in the hunt for a top 5 place following a 4-1 thumping of the region’s Australia cup representatives.
Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade began the match well opening the score in the 21st minute through a header by Nikolai Zervas from a well taken corner by River Petersen! Olympic controlled the game and a 7-0 shot on target ratio by the end of the first half indicates the extent of the domination against second placed Cooks Hill United! One minute before the end of the half Jed Hornery was tripped inside the box in front of the referee and he had no problem sending Olympic 2-0 up at the interval from the penalty spot.
At half time the thought amongst the brave spectators who withstood the cold and rain to watch the game was one more goal from Olympic and the game would be over! Cooks Hill did not have a single shot on target. The closest they came was hitting the woodwork from distance early in the first half.
Within five minutes of play in the second half an unfortunate clearance by the Olympic defence resulted in the ball landing at the feet of a Cooks Hill player who had no problem sticking it in the back of the net to reduce the score to 2-1. Ten minutes later a shot from outside the box from a very tight angle resulted in the Olympic goalkeeper to misjudge the ball in the rain and palm it into the head of an oncoming Cooks Hill player for the score to be drawn 2-2!
At this point, the domination enjoyed by Olympic in the first half had evaporated! Cooks Hill were playing more compact, the rain was bucketing down and fatigue from a mid-week working day for most players began to take it’s toll.
In the 69th minute a corner from Cooks Hill resulted in an unmarked player to unleash a volley from inside the Olympic box which almost blew the back of the Olympic net off! The Cooks Hill players were over the moon while the boys in blue stepped up a gear and fought tooth and nail to the very end but without result.
Cooks Hill is the only team to have beaten Olympic twice this season and while the later will have to wait to be crowned Premiers, it sets up a great match between the two in the semi finals that will follow the end of the NPL Premiership competition.
Olympic have three away games remaining against Weston (Wednesday 6th August), Belmont (Sunday 10th August and New Lambton (Tuesday 12th August) and depending on other results may require as few as 4 points to win the Premiership.
Newcastle Olympic First Grade began their battle in the cold and rain with a thunderbolt by Adam Zervas in the 3rd minute to settle their nerves and record their 6th win of the season! By the 11th minute a misjudged bounce of the ball in the rain allowed a Cooks Hill player a 1v1 with the Olympic goalkeeper and he didn’t have a problem bringing the game back to 1-1.
Despite this Olympic were in firm control and dictated play and it was only a mater of time before they would strike again. In the 29th minute young Jesse Fitzgerald who started for First Grade for the first time won a glancing header from a corner to score his first First Grade goal and Olympics’ second on the night. Despite the domination Olympic went into half time with only a 2-1 lead.
In the second half Olympic continued to dominate and dictate play. Kyle Bradbery put the game beyond reach with a goal in the 77th minute and Jye Rodway placed the icing on the cake in the 86th minute!
The three points gained enabled Olympic to frog leap Charlestown Azzurri and claim 6th place on the ladder, just 3 behind Maitland who sit in 5th spot. With three games remaining against New Lambton (2nd August), Weston (6th August) and Belmont (10th August), securing a spot in the top 5 is very possible.
Source: Tom Tsamouras
George Tsamouras Football Journey 