Newcastle Olympic was unable to collect the 3 points against Edgeworth Eagles in the Round 9 fixture of the 2026 Northern NSW NPL competition! Reserve Grade sustained their first defeat of the season, going down 1-0, and First Grade played out a 3-3 draw.
Olympic Reserve Grade began the match with a bench that was stronger than the starting 11 due to First Grade players “playing down” for yet another week! The 8-5 shots on goal ratio at half time is indicative of the way the game was played. Edgeworth set up to ensure they kept Olympic away from their goal mouth. In the 31st minute they won a penalty which they were successful in converting into a goal. From that moment they played with even more determination to simply keep Olympic out.
With 2/3 of Olympics’ midfield on the bench, the engine room of the team was absent and the front players were provided with only a mere 8 goal scoring opportunities to equalise. Despite the efforts of the First Grade players playing down, the domination in possession and the crispy passing we are used to seeing from this team was absent. Defensively, Olympic were not threatened but without dominating in the midfield, Edgeworth were not troubled with their game plan of keeping Olympic out.
In the second half, with the introduction of the Reserve Grade players who normally play, possession improved and the shots on goal ratio improved to 12-6, Olympics’ way. Olympic squeezed their opponent and created chances to equalise but Edgeworth were able to hold out. A single flash of brilliance from one of the front players could have brought about an Olympic goal which could have turned the game around but it was not meant to be.
This was Olympics’ first defeat of the season but coupled with the defeat of second placed Valentine at the hands of Charlestown Azzurri, they still maintain a 4 point lead in first place. Next week will be the game of the season so far when they meet Valentine away!
Olympic First Grade came to within a whisker of recording their 3rd win of the season but conceded an equalizer in stoppage time for yet another draw!
Both teams began the game at a very fast pace with Olympic drawing first blood after Jared Muller was fouled inside the box and the referee awarded a penalty kick. Kale Bradbery took the spot kick and despite an initial save from the Edgeworth goalkeeper the Olympic forward was able to score from the rebound.
The Eagles equalised in the 16th minute when Aaron Niyonkuru received the ball in a crowded Olympic box and had no problem tapping into an empty Olympic net! By the 22nd minute a piledriver from distance by Stefan Cordwell made the score 2-1 in favour of Edgeworth! At half time the shots on goal ratio was 8-7 in Edgeworth’s favour and this showed how close the game was being contested.
Olympic began the second half with greater intensity and hunger and they were rewarded with a long range effort by Lachlan West in the 61st minute who left the Edgeworth goalkeeper standing like a statue! By the 73rd minute Nathan Toby added Olympics’ third goal of the night and at 3-2, the Olympic faithful began to believe that they were in for a win over a great rival.
The arm wrestle between the two teams continued until the 90th minute but in stoppage time, the Olympic goalkeeper attempted to punch a crossed ball and simply pushed it into the path of an on coming Edgeworth forward who had no problem burying it into the net for a 3-3 draw!
The result puts Olympic on equal 7th place, 5 points outside the top 5 and 4 points from bottom spot!
Source: Tom Tsamouras
