Canberra Olympic 2 (Nathan Megic 2’, Stephen Domenici 90+2’) def. Gungahlin United 0

By Matt Nicoletti

Canberra Olympic progressed to the PS4 NPL Grand Final once more courtesy of a 2-0 win over Gungahlin United on Saturday afternoon.

Olympic came out hard after their loss to Belconnen in the Qualifying semi-final last weekend, and stunned United as they took the lead in just the second minute. A corner flew over the pack to find Nathan Megic unmarked, and after taking a touch the defender lobbed the ball over Jason Denham and into the far side of the net.

The battle moved into the midfield after the goal, with both sides trading possession constantly as tackles flew in and players lost the ball. United began to control more of the possession and bang on the door of Olympic’s defence, but the backline remained resolute and snuffed out the majority of Gungahlin’s attacking raids. 

Frank Cachia’s side appeared happy to sit deep and fight on the counter attack, but the United defence also worked well to defuse these, with Stephen Domenici frustrated a number of times by good work at the back as he looked to break free. 

United had their best chance of the first half just before half-time as the ball was whipped in towards Michael Rinaudo, however the forward was only able to put the shot wide with Angelo Konstantinou out of position in goals.

Rinaudo had another good chance on the other side of the break as his side trailed by a goal, but his header from Jason O’Dwyer’s cross flashed narrowly wide past the post less than a minute in.

Olympic continued to defend as Gungahlin chased the game throughout the second half, but held out well with few real chances coming at them. Marcial Munoz made a number of changes looking to introduce something different into the game, but Cachia’s defence remained well marshalled as the half wore on.

Olympic sealed the game in stoppage time though, as Bernard Rene’s cross field ball evaded Jack Green and found Domenici in space, and the Golden Boot winner made no mistake as he fired home to round the score line off at 2-0.