Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade returned to the top of the league table after an emphatic 3-1 win over Kahibah FC while First Grade were held to a 3-3 draw.
Playing in cold and moist conditions at the unfamiliar time of 9:00am Newcastle Olympic took on a Kahibah FC side sporting from their first win of the season! Despite being only their second match over the past four weeks Olympic set to work and was able to hit the lead in the 11th minute through Lucas Walsh and the 39th minute through Wil Phillips!
By half time there was no misconception about who was in the driving seat at Darling St Oval, particularly after the 1-0 loss by league leaders Valentine, the day before! A win in this match would return the boys in blue to 1st spot on the ladder where they had been for most of the season.
Olympic continued to go through the motions in uncomfortable conditions in the second half but did not add any more goals to kill off the game. In the 84th minute Kahibah scored through Lachlan Hodgetts and for a moment an upset was on the cards. This was put to rest in the last minute of play by Kaiden Boldery who made the scoreline 3-1 to Olympic!
This was Olympics’ 9th win of the season but only their second in the past six weeks! The win in conjunction with Valentine’s 1-0 defeat at Maitland returns Olympic to the top of the table by one point!
With seven matches remaining there is plenty of time to create a commanding lead while at the same time room to lose the lead too if there are any further slip ups.
Newcastle Olympic First Grade were able to salvage a 3-3 draw from a team which is bottom of the table and which was leading the match from the 65th minute until 10 minutes from time!
Despite the changes in coaching staff and despite two weeks break, Olympic fell behind to an own goal in the 26th minute before Kale Bradbery equalised in the 36th minute and Dominik Brymora put them 2-1 right on half time.
With the start of the second half Kahibah equalised the match in the 52nd minute with Jackson Burston and went 3-2 ahead with Jilles Bos in the 65th minute. Olympic then chased the game until 10 minutes from time when Wil Southcombe was able to score and save the day!
This draw keeps Olympic to within 3 points of relegation and 1 point to second last spot which leads to a play off to avoid relegation!
source: Tom Tsamouras
George Tsamouras Football Journey 