Newcastle Olympic returned from Round 8 of the 2026 NPL competition in Belmont with a draw and a win. Reserve Grade won their 7th game of the season to return with a 4-2 win while First Grade secured a 2-2 draw.
Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade recorded it’s 7th win from 8 games and has extended itself 4 points clear in first place on the table from it’s nearest rival! The difference in strength between the two teams was enormous and Olympic should have won by a higher scoreline.
Olympic were handicapped with three first grade players “playing down” in this match and this meant a line-up which was slightly different to the norm of previous games. Olympic began threatening but a harmless ball in the 3rd minute of play was not cleared by Jye Rodway, who appeared to stumble over the ball and resulted in a Belmont forward collecting the ball and burying it into the visitor’s net!
Olympic dominated play and created chance after chance. In the 24th minute Lucas Walshe received the ball outside the box and leaned back and sent a curling shot to the top left hand corner to bring the game back to 1-1! By the 37th minute Jess Fitzgerald made it 2-1 with an unchallenged header from inside the six yard box! By the 44th minute the same player made it 3-1 with a simple tap in from a Kane Treble cross.
At half time the domination of play by Olympic was such that it was hard to believe the teams were of the same division! The shot-on-goal ratio of 17-2 to Olympic gives an idea of just how dominant they were in the first 45 minutes of play.
Olympic continued to dominate play in the second half but also not finish off the moves created to add to the scoreline! A lobbed ball from deep by Belmont resulted in a winger receiving the pass and outpacing an Olympic defender, reduced the score to 2-3! Olympic continued to control the game but the 4th goal that would kill off the game just wouldn’t come.
In the last 10 minutes Olympic dropped, Belmont picked up and in the second last minute of play, the team which had dominated play so much were wrestling in the corner flag with the ball to chew up the clock! Jason Goble-Lote tapped in the 4th goal of Olympic in the last minute of play to secure the 3 points and the 7th win of the season.
Olympic had 32 shots on goal to Belmont’s 7 for the duration of the match. Such was the domination but because the substitutions weren’t made based on the needs of the match but on the minutes required by the first grade players, Reserve Grade almost paid the price!
Despite this, they are 4 points ahead from second placed Valentine FC and an incredible 8 points in front of 3rd placed Edgeworth Eagles who we play at Darling St Oval in Round 9 of the competition.
Newcastle Olympic First Grade played better against Belmont than they have in recent weeks but it wasn’t enough to secure the 3 points, coming away with a 2-2 draw. Olympic were balanced all over the park but what let them down was poor finishing.
Jared Muller opened the score in 2nd minute when he tapped in from a Kale Bradbery cross. This settled the nerves and Olympic had good movement of the ball and more opportunities to score from point blank positions. In the 37th minute Jared Muller put Olympic 2-0 ahead after a free kick from Kierry James wasn’t cleared by the Belmont defense and the later fired a shot into an empty net. That was the scoreline at half time and a 9-8 shot on goal ratio in favor of Belmont sums up how balanced the game was in terms of possession and construction of play.
In the 51st minute a sustained attack by Belmont resulted in a ball bouncing off an Olympic defender and landing into the path of Marco Gueli who had no problem reducing the deficit to 1-2. The remainder of the game was an arm wrestle by both teams creating and missing chances to win the game.
In the 89th minute a terrible goal kick by Olympic goalkeeper Adam Pearce gave the ball to a Belmont attacker who was brought down from behind by Steven Theacos to prevent him from scoring. Theacos was shown the red card for his professional foul and a minute later a sustained attack inside the Olympic box brought about Belmont’s 2-2 equalizer.
The draw keeps Olympic in 8th spot, 5 points outside the top 5 and 4 points from bottom spot! Despite going 5 games without a win, the team showed good qualities in this match and hopefully they can secure 3 points against Edgeworth at Darling St Oval on Saturday.
Source: Tom Tsamouras
George Tsamouras Football Journey 