Sydney Olympic drew 1-1 with APIA Leichhardt after a hard-fought match at Lambert Park in the 14th round of NPL NSW.

The result extends Olympic’s winless streak in the league to four matches and sees them fall to 8th place on 18 points, two points away from the top four.

The opening half started well for the visitors with winger Adam Parkhouse having a shot saved by goalkeeper Ivan Necevski in the 18th minute.

In the 24th minute, Olympic striker Mohamed Adam gave a brilliant through ball to teammate Oliver Puflett who guided it into the bottom left corner, giving his side the lead.

Tempers boiled over near the end of the first half with a minor scuffle between both teams. This led to three yellow cards being issued before the teams went into the sheds for half time.

The home side came out firing after the break, with former Olympic player Peter Kekeris’ shot saved by goalkeeper Luke Kairies in the 48th minute.

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Eight minutes later, APIA captain Sean Symons managed to get past a swarm of defenders and into Olympic’s box before cutting the ball back to midfielder Sam McIllhatton, who buried it to make it 1-1.

The last half hour featured lots of physical play and many goal-scoring opportunities for both sides, particularly from crosses into the box.
In the 59th minute, APIA winger Mathieu Cordier sent a good cross into the box which was headed just wide by Symons.
Symons was again presented with chances to score in the 65th and 70th minute, but missed the target on both sides.

Olympic’s best chance to regain the lead came in the 84th minute after Jason Madonis delivered a perfect cross for Puflett, who headed it into the side netting.

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In the dying minutes of the match, APIA had one last chance from a corner when Paul Galimi’s header was parried by goalkeeper Kairies and cleared out.

The match ended 1-1 after a gruelling contest with both teams disappointed at the result.

The Blues’ next fixture is on Sunday 6th June away against Wollongong Wolves at Win Stadium.