Newcastle Olympic defeat Valentine in a dramatic penalty shoot-out to reach the Reserve Grade Grand Final

Newcastle Olympic and Valentine Phoenix FC crossed swords at Magic Park for a place in the 2026 Northern NSW NPL Grand Final. As in the case with Round 21 of the NPL competition from a few weeks ago, Valentine dominated the first half but was unable to score and Olympic took control of the second half but was also unable to convert their chances.

The teams then went into a penalty shoot-out and at the end of five dot shots each, were locked at 5-5. They then went into “sudden-death” firing a penalty each until someone missed and that someone happened to be Valentine.

This win gives Olympic a rest for a week while Valentine have another chance at reaching the final by playing the winner of the second semi-final between Maitland and Cooks Hill which is being played on Sunday.

Source: Tom Tsamouras