Wollongong United have continued their mid-season march up the table with a 4-2 over Wollongong Olympic at Macedonia Park on Saturday.

Despite slipping down as low as 7^th earlier in the season, United are now comfortably 3^rd with a six point buffer over 4^th placed Albion Park.

A 3-0 lead at half time saw United cruising but an early second half goal from Olympic provided some nervy moments for the home team.

“I think we were a bit complacent the first few minutes in the second half and that lead to their goal so it took us a while to settle,” said head coach Oliver Vrtkovski after the game.

“When you’re leading 3-0 at halftime you expect the other team to change their tactics.

“They pushed players forward and that made us a bit nervous at the back but I think we still contained them well.”

It took United the better part of the first half to settle into the game but once they had the game opened up and lead to a flurry of goals.

In-form striker Robbie Shields made the breakthrough on 27 minutes when a Mark Every cross found him unmarked at the back post for an easy finish.

The score was doubled just eight minutes later when Brian Monitnari grabbed his first goal of the game when a loose ball was knocked back into the box for him to slot home.

Montinari then wrapped up the first half scoring when he scored his second goal in the 41^st minute from a Robbie Shields cross.

A goalkeeping error from Sam Nastic gifted Olympic a penalty just three minutes after the restart which Sam Gordon calmly capitalised on to spark a bit of life into the side.

The game was put to bed in the 65^th minute, however, when United won a penalty of their own that Johnny Martinoski buried to make it a 4-1 lead.

Another keeping error, this time from substitute Matt White, gave Olympic a late consolation goal when Brent Farnsworth’s long-range effort wasn’t dealt with.

Despite the win, coach Vrtkovski knows his side can continue to progress as a team.

“There’s always something you can improve on,” he said.

“I think it’s those moments when you do have some pressure, because you can’t dominate for the full 90 minutes.

“So it’s being able to stay relaxed and composed when you’re under pressure and that’s something we’ll continue to work on.”

The win capped a spell of four games in eight days for United who will now look to their next Premier League fixture against Fernhill on Saturday.

Olympic were pushed down to 9^th because of the loss and will be hoping they can turn things around when they take on Tarrawanna next Saturday.

Wollongong United 4 (R. Shields (27’), B. Montinari (35’, 41’), J. Martinoski (65’))

Wollongong Olympic 2 (S. Gordon (48’), B. Farnsworth (90’))

Referee: Chris Munn