Sydney Olympic victorious in Greek Easter thriller
By Dimitri Kallos
Sydney Olympic came from behind twice against Sutherland Sharks to claim a hard-fought 3-2 victory away from home at Seymour Shaw Park in the 10th round of NPL NSW.
The victory puts Olympic on 16 points and only three points away from league leaders Blacktown City who they face next week.
The match began strongly for Olympic with defender Jason Madonis’ cross finding forward Oliver Pufflet, who headed it onto the crossbar in the 2nd minute. Sutherland punished Olympic seven minutes later for their missed chance when a lobbed through ball found forward James Andrew, whose right-footed shot went between the legs of advancing goalkeeper Chris Parsons, giving Sutherland an early lead.
Olympic, wearing their red-white away jersey, found an equaliser in the 31st minute when Jason Madonis dribbled into the box and cut the ball back with his left into the path of striker Mohamed Adam who slotted it from close range with his left past Sutherland goalkeeper Anthony Bouzanis.
In the dying minutes of the 1st half, the ball landed just outside of Olympic’s box after a deflected throw-in where it was met by Sutherland midfielder Chris McStay who released a bullet shot into the bottom left corner, giving the home tam the half time advantage.
Olympic came out like a team possessed in the 2nd half, with Mohamed Adam grabbing his second goal of the match in the 47th minute, using his strength to carry a loose ball into the box and guiding it into the bottom right corner. The visitors maintained control of the half, creating a couple of headed opportunities that were hit wide of the goal.
Both teams were fighting hard, and the match seemed destined for a draw. Then, in the 82nd minute, a deflected lobbed pass found Olympic playmaker Brendan Cholakian inside the box, who buried a right-foot half-volley into the bottom right corner, scoring his first league goal since joining Olympic and giving his team the lead for the first time in the match.
Two minutes later, Mohamed Adam went for the spectacular with an attempted bicycle kick which was saved comfortably by keeper Bouzanis. Olympic were able to hold on to their lead, giving them their fifth win of the season.
The Blues’ next match is on Sunday 9th May when the play host to 1st place Blacktown City at Belmore Sports Ground.