Sydney Olympic claimed its first win of the National Premier Leagues season in a drab affair against Hakoah on Sunday at Hensley Athletic Field.
Blues manager Abbas Saad made a number of changes to the starting lineup, dropping Jinya An and Nikola Kuleski in favour of Darcy Burgess and Niko Tsattalios, who made his 100th appearance for the Club.
In a first half spectators would hope to forget, chances were at a premium with either side, except for one Hakoah effort that rattled the crossbar.
Some lazy tracking in midfield from Burgess allowed Nathan Roberts to move freely in the inside left channel, lining up an effort from 25 yards that had Henderson beaten.
Things took a turn for the worse when Olympic’s Zac Mackenzie went to ground clutching his right hamstring. The makeshift centre-back was substituted on 40 minutes, leaving Abbas Saad with plenty of headaches as veteran Will Angel moved in from the flank.
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The second half saw an almost immediate upturn of fortune for the Blues.
The ineffectual Radovan Pavicevic was replaced by Jinya An, who combined excellently in midfield, particularly with Hagi Gligor in a Man of the Match performance.
And it was Olympic utility An who, after evading one challenge in front of the penalty area, played an incisive left-foot pass to Jack Stewart, who struck low to open the scoring for the visitors.
It was to prove the deciding goal in a tough contest, Olympic’s first three-pointer of the campaign.
After the match, Blues Spanish ace Alejandro Sanchez admitted the match was a difficult contest watch but praised his side’s determination to pick up maximum points.
“It was tough to watch,” said Sanchez, “but it was even tougher to play because of the pitch and the rival.
“I think we were practical, we tried to be as efficient as we could and hopefully we got the win in one of the hardest games of the season.”
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Sydney Olympic now have the chance to leap as high as 3rd on the ladder with victory against newcomers Mount Druitt in Wednesday’s rescheduled Round 2 fixture at Popondetta Park in Emerton. Kick off at 7:30pm.