Newcastle Olympic recorded their 3rd win of the season defeating Valentine 6-1 while Reserve Grade recorded their 2nd successive loss of the season, going down by 2-1.
Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade went into this game as league leaders with a 4-point gap from second placed Valentine FC. The game certainly lived up to expectations and despite having double the number of shots on goal, the boys in blue sustained their second successive defeat of the season!
Without star midfielder River Peterson who was unavailable for this match and George Tsamouras covering the left back position, two thirds of the “engine room” was again not there! Although the game started well with both teams attacking and cancelling each other out, a poor judgement by Olympic goalie who came off his line to collect a routine ball but didn’t get there, enabled a Valentine attacker to steal the ball and fire into an empty net for a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute!
The problem with Olympic was their inability to win the ball in midfield, dominate possession and impose their game on the opposition! When they did get the ball the constant use of the long ball by Brody Taylor was ineffective! When Olympic failed to close down Valentine in midfield and a through ball was placed on one of their attackers, the decision to track him down on the wrong side by an Olympic defender enabled the later to fire a shot and put Valentine 2-0 up by the 18th minute!
With the luxury of a 2-0 cushion and the absence of an Olympic midfield which could win the ball and thread their way through with crispy passing, Valentine cruised their way to half time without any trouble. Any ball above the ground and long was being handled with ease. The 5-3 shots-on-goal ratio to Valantine is a statistic which told the story and a statistic which we have not been accustomed to seeing by this Olympic team this season!
At the start of the second half Blake Clifton replaced Oliver Steinerts and took his place in attack, sending Rhys Butler to play as an attacking midfielder. The use of the long ball continued and the frustration in the players began to build-up as the desire was certainly evident but the method of play was wrong!
In the 54th minute Brody Taylor was guilty of a reckless tackle which the referee correctly punished with a straight red, the second red in the past month by the same player, and Olympic were reduced to 10 players for the remaining 35 minutes!
Clifton was brought back in defence and Tsamouras was sent into his customary midfield role. The impact from this change was immediate. The midfield began to control possession and the short passing game began to replace the use of the long ball. Olympic players began pressing their opponents and forcing errors and retreat!
Olympic players appeared first to the ball and the warning signs of a come-back were evident when George Tsamouras saw a deflected shot go on the wrong side of the post followed by another shot by Jesse Fitzgerald just over the cross bar. From the ensuing goal kick, Tsamouras won the header in midfield, the ball bounced once and into the path of Fitzgerald who ran into the box and as he was about to shoot, was cut down for a penalty!
Jess Fitzgerald made no mistake from the penalty and Olympic brought the game back to 2-1 in the 66th minute. Valentine tried to break Olympics’ momentum with time wasting “injuries” but to no avail.
Liam Craig came on for William Phillips in the 67th minute, taking over as a left full back. Olympic continued to press Valentine all over the field forcing them to retreat inside their half to defend their lead and looking for the quick counter-attack as their only option.
This was the best period of the game for Olympic and if they had started the match playing with this formation and tempo, perhaps the result may have been different. It was also a great game to watch with one team throwing everything at the opponent to force an equaliser and an opponent soaking up pressure and looking for the counter attack to score their third goal to kill off the game.
In the 74th minute a mid-air collision between Liam Craig and a Valentine opponent left the Olympic player with a head injury which meant he had to be replaced after only being on the field for 7 minutes. This brought Kai Zervas into the game and further internal positional swapping.
The arm wrestle between the two teams continued until the final whistle with the best chance falling to Jesse Fitzgerald in the 86th minute. Despite the efforts of both sets of players the score remained 2-1 in favour of Valentine FC. The final 13-7 shots on goals ratio in favour of Olympic and 10-1 corner count is indicative of how much better the team played in the 2nd half despite playing with one player short for 35 minutes!
Olympic remain in 1st place on the table despite two successive defeats but now only with a slender 1 point difference from second placed Valentine FC. They face Lambton Jaffas at Darling St Oval in the game that marks the half way mark of the 2026 season.
Newcastle Olympic first grade treated it’s fans to a 6-1 demolition of Valentine FC who never looked capable of getting anything from the game!
After being eliminated by Valentine FC in the Cup earlier this season, Newcastle Olympic had an extra reason to want to obtain the 3 points from the Croudace Bay Complex.
Jared Muller opened the score in the 18th minute on his 100th game for the club but Valentine were quick to bring the match level in the 32nd minute through Myles Gaffrey. Wil Southcombe scored a beautiful goal in the 41st minute to take Olympic with a 2-1 lead into the half time interval. A 7-6 shots on goals ratio in favour of Olympic at half time didn’t provide any indication about what was to follow in the final 45 minutes of the game.
Kale Bradbery scored a hat trick in the opening three minutes of the second half to extend Olympics’ lead to 5-1 and put the game beyond the reach of the home side! Yuhei Sato scored Olympics’ 6th goal two minutes before the end to complete the teams biggest win of the season.
A 17-1 shots on goal ratio to Olympic showed the dominance of the side which gave them only their 3rd win of the season and 6th place on the points table.
Source: Tom Tsamouras
George Tsamouras Football Journey 