
Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade put on a great performance to come away with a 2-0 victory at Weston and be a whisker away from the 2025 Reserve Grade Premiership. First Grade did not have the same luck and were convincingly beaten by 5-1 in the Round 13 wash out fixture at the Rockell Automation Park.
On a slippery pitch Weston Bears and Newcastle Olympic Reserve Grade played out a high intensity match that kept the small number of spectators who braved the evening cold on the edge of their seats! Weston needed to win to secure 5th spot on the ladder from Lambton Jaffas and having claimed the scalp of Cooks Hill recently, were in the mood to do the same to the league leaders, Newcastle Olympic.
Olympic who themselves surrendered a 2-0 half time lead the previous week to Cooks Hill had different ideas. They opened the score as early as the 4th minute through a penalty which was converted by Jed Hornery after a Weston player handled the ball inside the area. Weston took the game to Olympic and had 13 shots on goal to Olympics’ 5! The statistic which told the story about what spectators were watching is that the shots on target were 5-4 Olympics’ way! Weston were laborious and unproductive while Olympic precise and full of substance.

With the start of the second half Olympic scored again in the 46th minute through Jed Hornery and fought tooth and nail to keep Weston out until the end of the game. Weston had a total of 18 shots on goal but only 5 on target compared to Olympics’ 9 shots on goal but 7 on target! Caylan Law the leading goal-scorer of both Weston and all of Reserve Grade hit the woodwork from a free kick but didn’t even get a sniff of goal from open play. Olympic dug in and were in no mood to present gifts like they did in the second half to Cooks Hill a week before!
After turning a 2-0 half time deficit in Maitland to a 3-2 full time victory, Cooks Hill retain 2nd spot on 41 points with two games to go (Broadmeadow Magic and Charlestown Azzurri) and Olympic move to 46 points with also two games to go (Belmont and New Lambton)! Cooks Hill take on Broadmeadow Magic on Saturday night at the LMRFF while Olympic do the same to Belmont on Sunday night at the same venue! If Cooks Hill draw or lose against Magic, Olympic win the Premiership! If Olympic win against Belmont on Sunday, they win the Premiership, regardless of what happens in the Cooks Hill vs Broadmeadow Magic game.

The level of intensity between Weston and Newcastle Olympic First Grade was less than then their Reserve Grade counterparts but the slippery surface prevented both teams from being able to play free flowing football. Weston opened the score within 30 seconds as the Olympic defense were caught napping with a solo run by Musa Kamara! By the 13th minute Zach Thomas was judged to have slapped an opponent during a challenge inside the box and the ensuing penalty was converted by Chris Hatfield. Both goals were gifts and not the result of constructive moves by the home team.
By the 31st minute Kyle Bradburry was able to pull a goal back from a shot from close range after a nice through ball out wide by Ben Hay. Olympic enjoyed a lot of ball possession from this moment until the end of the half. On the 45th minute Olympic gave away a free header from a corner which the goalkeeper was able to get a hand but as soon as the ball dropped to the ground Connor Evans was able to tap over the line! Just seconds before this header Chris Hurley from Weston pushed over Jesse Fitzgerald with both hands and knocked him to the ground as the corner was being defended but nothing was given by the linesman or the referee!
Despite the 3-1 scoreline the game was not one sided. The shots on goal at half time were only 8-5 in favour of Weston and shots on target only 3-2 in favour of Weston.

The second half began in similar style to the first with both teams involved in a midfield battle. In the 58th minute the Olympic defence was stretched wide with Adam Pierce coming off his line to close-down a winger and then running back to his line. The ball was then crossed to an unmarked Chris Hatfield just outside the six-yard box who had no problem sticking it to the back of the Olympic net for a 4-1 scoreline!
In the 72nd minute Kyle Bradbery was tripped inside the box and was awarded a penalty. The spot kick was taken by Roy O’Donovan but the Weston goalkeeper saved the shot! This summed up the luck of Olympic all night! In the 81st minute a well worked move between Chris Hatfield and Aaron Niyonkuru enabled the latter to score the fifth goal for Weston and end a night of misery for Olympic.
The final 10 shots on target to Olympics’ 6 is proof that a 5-1 scoreline is unjustifiable and many of the goals were gifts by the team in blue and white.

Source: Tom Tsamouras
























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































