In a game which didn’t reach any great heights, it was Adelaide Olympic that stood tall to score a second half injury time goal, and officially inscribing Raiders for relegation in their Play Station 4 National Premier League South Australia round 18 encounter at the Croatian Sports Centre.

With a faint hope for survival going into the encounter, Raiders put on a brave fight absorbing the Olympic onslaught for most of the ninety minutes, while giving the visitors a few fears along the way.

Raiders nearly had the dream opening to the game in the 2nd minute when Nicholas Budin, (who was recently lured out of retirement) threaded a pass to Yasmin Sudic who flicked the ball into the path of Mimi Saric who fired a shot that shaved the cross bar.

Olympic wrestled control of the game through the middle third of the park, and never allowed Raiders an opportunity to get into any rhythm with their ball movement. The veteran Oliver Totani in the Olympic midfield was finding plenty of the ball with support from Manni Katopodis and David Makridis.

The Raiders defence was under siege with the smooth running exploits of Olympic’s left winger Shaun Brennan who was a great support for Fausto Erba in Olympic’s forward third.
Raiders’ defenders Mathew Mullen, Andrew Tamburrino, Pietro Piantedosi and Michael Paleka were resolute for the entire game.

Olympic had their first chance to open their scoring in the 19th minute when Erba fired from close range but his attempt on goal was denied by a brilliant save by Raiders’ goalkeeper Deale Chamberlain.

The game opened up after the half hour and the ball was moving freely from end to end with both defences solid. Tomas Maricic and Jairus Wyten were impenetrable in Olympic’s back third. Raiders’ midfielders Paul Karittevelis, Sudic and Saric began to exert some influence into the contest.

A golden chance fell to Totani in the 29th minute when he linked onto a chain of passes and found himself in the eighteen-yard box but he sprayed his attempt on goal.

Raiders, in the shades of halftime finished the half as they started with a great chance to go into the break a goal up when in the 43rd minute Saric neatly weaved between two defenders to fire a low shot which was blocked by Maricic on the goal line. Both coaches would have been happy to go into the break not having conceded a goal.

Olympic came out after the break with more resolve asking a lot of questions of the Raiders defence. The visitors had a chance to open the scoring in the 49th minute when Ioannis Simosis laid a through ball pass to Erba who had only the keeper to beat but squandered the chance.

The chances continued to fall to the visitors. A 57th minute header by Maricic hit the cross bar, while a 77th minute header by substitute Kosta Mantis went over the bar. Raiders defender Tamburrino was winning the aerial battles as the visitors began to use the long ball forward.

The game looked destined for a draw, until a 94th minute free kick on the edge of the eighteen-yard box set up Brennan for a shot on goal. The classy left winger executed a clinical strike that dipped over a five man wall into the right hand corner of the goal for the winner to the despair of the Raiders fans.

Disappointed Raiders defender Pietro Piantedosi said after the game that the team gave their all, but at the end they (Olympic) grabbed their chance to seal the contest.

“The boys gave 100% today from start to finish. The further the game progressed without a score, it was always going to come down to the team that took their chance when it presented. We coughed up the free late in the game and they made us pay.” Piantedosi said.

“We know we blew our chance to avoid relegation, but we are still going to give our all for the rest of the season.” He added

A jubilant goal scoring hero Shaun Brennan was relieved to get the win. He said they couldn’t put the Raiders away in the first half and were made to fight hard for the win.

“We didn’t take our chances in the first half to put them away, and to their credit they made us work hard across the park all day for the three points.” Brennan said.

“They came at us after halftime and tried to catch us on the break which was a concern for us, but we held up and took our chance when it came our way.”

Fighting for survival, the faint pulse that Raiders had coming into the contest stopped beating in the 94th minute of the game and with it their place in the PlayStation 4 National Premier League next season.

For Olympic, the win moves them out of the relegation zone, and relieves some pf the pressure that has been building around them in the past month as they fought for their own survival in the competition.

Written by: Joe Pangallo