Newcastle Olympic returned from their Round 6 outing at Cooks Hill undefeated! Reserve Grade put on their best performance of the season to win 3-0 while First Grade secured a valuable 1-1 draw.
Olympic Reserve Grade put on a performance against a Cooks Hill side, which had beaten them last season three times, that made them look like a mid-table First Grade team than a Reserve Grade! Cooks Hill were not bad, they were simply made to look not good! The Cookers threw everything at Olympic! They tried to play through the middle, they attempted to come through the flanks and they even tried to come over the top, using the long ball. Olympic were simply too strong in every department and prevented their opposition of even coming within a sniff of a goal!
The early signs of a great afternoon for Olympic came in the 16th minute when a nice through ball from Rhys Butler resulted in Jess Fitzgerald hitting the woodwork! A minute later a careless challenge by the Cooks Hill keeper on Fitzgerald on the edge of the box resulted in the referee correctly awarding a penalty kick! Fitzgerlad was out of luck again when his shot was saved by Patrick Innes, the Cooks Hill goalkeeper. By the 28th minute a great interception by Rhys Butler and pass to Jess Fitzgerlad resulted in the later putting through Blake Clifton who had no problem registering Cooks Hill – Newcastle Olympic 0-1!
In the second half, a bench with the quality of Tsamouras, Steinerts, Walshe, Middleton and Zervas were slowly introduced to make Olympics’ domination absolute. Such was the pressure that a cross by Kane Treble from the left resulted in an own goal by the home team! Cooks Hill tried everything to find a way through but Olympic kept the door to their goal shut. In the 87th minute an interception in the middle of the field by Tsamouras and a quick pass to Fitzgerald resulted in a through ball to Walshe who side stepped the Cooks Hill goalkeeper to record a 3-0 scoreline.
This result was the fifth win in as many matches and obviously first spot on the points table. What is more important is that this team is now settling into a rhythm and with maximum points so far, they look like they will be favourites to win the Premiership yet again!
On Wednesday night at 6:00pm they take on undefeated Adamstown Rosebud at Darling St Oval, as part of Round 3 which was washed out three weeks ago. Another win will have them 4 points clear at the top from their nearest rival and a great position to welcome the eternal foe, Broadmeadow Magic, at Darling St Oval on Saturday week!
Newcastle Olympic First Grade secured a 1-1 draw in a match they should have dominated and secured all 3 points. Olympic were strong and composed at the back, dangerous up front but lacked the ability to win the ball in the midfield and dictate play! As a result, their opponent was free to test themselves against Olympics’ defence while our attacking players didn’t receive the service from which they could hurt Cooks Hill!
With few clear goal scoring opportunities the ball was being leisurely knocked around in the middle of the park with neither team being able to take control and dictate terms. During a routine attack on the left flank by Cooks Hill in the 23rd minute an Olympic defender misjudged the bounce of the ball and this allowed Daniel Yaxley to pick his spot and curl a shot into the top corner of the Olympic goal!
Olympics’ reply came in the 30th minute when during a quick counterattack a number of one touch passes put Kale Bradbery in a great position to pull the trigger, only to see his shot come off the woodwork! Five minutes later Kanata Furutani tested the Cooks Hill goalie with a thunderous shot, only to see the ball tipped over the crossbar for a corner. By the 40th minute Olympic struck the woodwork again with a header from a well struck corner kick.
Despite this, it was Cooks Hill who almost went into the half time break with a 2-0 lead when one of their forwards missed an absolute sitter with only the keeper to beat!
The second half was a mirror of the first. A pass to Jared Muller who had just come on by Kale Brabery resulted in him drawing out the Cooks Hill goalie and slipping the ball through his legs to level the score 1-1 in the 61st minute!
The rest of the half continued without any incident of note and with spectators treated only to some individual flashes of good play.
This draw leaves Olympic in 7th place and hopefully with a win against bottom of the table Adamstown Rosebud on Wednesday night, they may be able to improve their position on the table.
Source:
Tom Tsamouras
