Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade triumphed by 2-0 at Cooks Square Park in Round 16 of the 2026 Northern NSW NPL competition and remain on top of the points table while First Grade suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat.
Newcastle Olympic dominated play at Cook Square Park throughout the game and were worthy victors by 2-0. They dictated play in the first 30 minutes during which they scored once through a penalty won and scored by Jesse Fitzgerald and hit the woodwork on no fewer than two occasions. In the last 15 minutes of the first half Maitland took control of the midfield and put Olympic under a little pressure to preserve the score line into the half time break.
The second half belonged to Olympic with the team dominating possession, scoring a second goal in the 67th minute through Jesse Fitgerald and demonstrating composure and confidence from beginning to end. Indeed, there were moments where Olympic teased the opposition by maintaining possession and forcing them to run around trying to retrieve the ball.
The win enables Olympic to remain in first spot on the table on 32 points, exactly one point ahead of Valentine who defeated Edgeworth Eagles 1-0 on the previous day. Cooks Hill follows in 3rd spot on 28 points but with a game in hand. This is against Charlestown Azzurri on Wednesday night and if they win, they will join Valentine in equal second spot one point behind Olympic.
Newcastle Olympic First Grade were not as fortunate as their Reserve Grade counter parts. They conceded as early as in the 3rd minute of play and although Maitland created more chances to add to the score they were unable to do so.
The arm wrestling between the two teams continued until the end with neither adding to the score. Maitland tried to score a second to put the game beyond the reach of Olympic while the latter were trying to score to draw the match.
Despite the narrow defeat the performance was a lot closer than the difference on the points table between the two teams. The loss brings Olympic to 1 point off the bottom, a position occupied by Charlestown Azzurri who have two games in hand.
Source: Tom Tsamouras
