Newcastle Olympic crash out to Lambton Jaffas in the last game of the first half of the 2026 NPL season of Northern NSW! Reserve Grade lost their third successive game of the season 4-3 while First Grade were defeated 2-0 at Darling St Oval.
Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade made it a trifecta in losses and dropped from first spot on the table to second after a 4-3 loss in front of a full house at Darling St Oval! Olympic began the match in almost a hypnotic pace conceding in the 3rd minute and the 22nd minute before kicking into gear.
Without regular centre halves Andrew Paksec and William Phillips and goalkeeper Ryan Reid the Olympic defence conceded goals they normally avoid. The first came from poor marking and not being on the goal side of the opponent after a sustained attack by Jaffas and the second from an inability to be first to the ball and clearing a cross!
At 2-0 down the team kicked into gear from their trance like tempo and began to press their opponent. The boys in blue began to play with greater intensity and aggression and by the 36th minute brought the score back to 1-2 through a nice goal by midfielder George Tsamouras.
Half time found them trailing 1-2 and with a shots-on-goal ratio of 7-5 to Olympic.
The second half belonged to Olympic with the team dominating possession and dictating play. The warning signs of what was about to happen came as early as the 49th minute when a well drilled and curling shot by George Tsamouras from the edge of the box went slightly over the bar.
In the 52nd minute an interception by Nikolai Zervas on the edge of the box to a suicidal pass across the face of goal by Lambton Jaffas resulted in a great shot and a 2-2 scoreline! The smiles returned and the momentum in the team indicated that this game was certainly not over yet.
In the 55th minute a defence splitting ball by George Tsamouras into Jess Fitzgerald inside the box resulted in Nikolai Zervas finding himself facing an empty goal but he shot over the post!
In the 59th minute a well worked move on the right by Lucas Walshe and George Tsamouras and a cross by the later found Nikolai Zervas in the far post who had no problem firing the ball into the net for a 3-2 lead! Although the goal was allowed to stand, the linesman signalled a foul on a Jaffas defender by Lucas Walshe in the lead up and the goal was disallowed. The decision was probably correct but given the number of heavy tackles that were waved as “play on” during the game, this was against the grain of play!
In exactly 1 minute latter the outstanding Jaffas goalkeeper, Ethan Lewis, was tested again by Olympic when a nice through ball by George Tsamouras to Lucas Walshe resulted in a stinging curling shot which was tipped around the post for a corner. A well flighted deep corner by George Tsamouras to the far post which was headed down by Blake Clifford and into the path of Lucas Walshe resulted in an unstoppable shot and 3-2 was now on the scoreboard. In 40 minutes Olympic turned a 2-0 deficit to a 3-2 lead!
Olympic continued to dominate play and looked very comfortable on the ball and with their lead. During a routine attack by Jaffas and a cross from the left, not marking the opponent goal side, resulted in a lone Jaffas attacker connecting with the ball and despite being surrounded by five Olympic players, bringing the game to 3-3!
In the remaining 18 minutes Olympic peppered the Jaffas goal for the winner but without success. In the 90th minute the decision of the Olympic goalkeeper to come off his line to intercept an opponent who was being shadowed by an Olympic defender resulted in the later to fire from distance, catch the keeper out and instead of a 3-3 draw, enabled Lambton Jaffas to walk away with a 4-3 win!
The calamitous errors in defence and poor finishing up front are the main characteristics of this game. The “engine room” – midfield contributed to a 23 to 11 shots on goal ratio for Olympic but of these 23 shots, only 9 were on target!
The end of the first half of the season finds Olympic in 2nd spot on the table, 2 points behind league leaders Valentine FC. This is disappointing given that they have led the competition for most of the season! Despite this, they are certainly in contention for the Premiership and with a little more consistency should return to their winning ways.
Newcastle Olympic First Grade were hoping for a winning result after their 5-1 triumph at Valentine the previous week but it wasn’t to be against a very disciplined Lambton Jaffas.
Both teams began the match evenly with both trying to find ways to open the scoreline but it wasn’t until the 27th minute when Drew Patterson from Jaffas side stepped his opponent inside the Olympic box and sent in an unstoppable curling shot into the Olympic net.
At half time Jaffas were 1-0 up and were narrowly ahead 8-7 on the shots on goal ratio.
In the second half the arm wrestle continued until the 57th minute when a move by Archie Finn and Jospeh Langlois resulted in Sam Donnellan finding himself with only the keeper to beat and having no problem raising the score to 2-0.
Olympic continued to go forward but after 15 shots on goal, of which only 3 were on target, and 6 corners, they were unable to break the Jaffas defence.
This defeat leaves Olympic 2 points off 5th spot on the points table and 3 points from second last spot at the halfway mark of the season. Their next opponent is Weston Bears who sustained a 2-0 humiliating home defeat, as league leaders, at the hands of Valentine FC.
Source: Tom Tsamouras
George Tsamouras Football Journey 