South Coast United and Wollongong Olympic shared the points on a bitterly cold Wednesday night at Macedonia Park, so completing the Round 11 catch-up fixtures.

This was a classic game of two halves, as Olympic went in at half time 1-0 up thanks to Yusuke Ueda’s 10^th IPL goal of the season and looked comfortably in charge of the match at the break. But United came back strongly in the second half and deserved their equaliser through Gong Jun Lee’s spot kick.

The two keepers kept the scoreline at 1-1, with fine saves at either end late on, Hayden Durose keeping out Liam Unicomb, and Jason Bleakley just getting a finger on a fine shot from Ueda in the dying moments of the game.

United started without player-coach Greg Valic and were also missing the presence of Denis Stojic in midfield. The team struggled to find a rhythm and were on the back foot early on as Brendan Fordham dictated play from the centre of the park for Olympic and Ueda looked sharp in the early exchanges.

It didn’t take long for Olympic to break through. Kyle Hazebroek won the ball down the left flank and sent a perfectly-weighted cross into the box where Ueda was waiting ten yards out. He composed himself and found the gap to Bleakley’s right to open the score after 12 minutes.

For the rest of the half there was really only one team in it.

Moments after scoring, Ueda was put through by Harrison Brown down the right, but this time he fired his shot into the side-netting. And Ueda again seemed certain to score when he made space for himself on the edge of the area, this time firing with his left foot, but the ball took a deflection before flying just wide of the upright.

Then it was Hazebroek who broke clear of his marker, running onto another through ball from Brown, with Bleakley charging out of his six yard box to smother the shot.

At the other end, Durose barely got a touch of the ball in the first half. United’s distribution in the final third was poor, and if they didn’t give the ball away, there was usually the solid presence of Jake Duczynski or Jack Keating to block any attack in its path. Even on set-pieces, United squandered any chances they had, failing to clear the line of defenders which held firm for Olympic.

And on the stroke of half-time it was Olympic who had the best chances again. Ueda laid the ball off to Brown on the edge of the box, but his namesake Robbie – in the South Coast defence – got his body in the way to block the goal bound shot.

So as the sides went in for the break, there looked to be only one winner in this game and Olympic fully deserved their 1-0 lead.

United came out for the second half with more purpose and were immediately pressing for an equaliser. The Olympic back line stood firm, though, and when Yuki Kiyohara forced Durose to make his first save of the match in the 49^th minute, it was an easy take for the Olympic keeper.

The introduction of Ricky Bertakis as substitute for United less than ten minutes into the second stanza had an immediate impact. Oliver Carrasco’s free-kick forced a diving save from Durose and Dinko Terzic watched his shot fly inches over the bar from just outside the box.

Suddenly it was all United, and it was Olympic who were failing to string passes together.

In the 67^th minute, the pressure paid off when Bertakis was tripped inside the penalty area. Jun Lee stepped up and calmly slotted the spot kick away to Durose’s right for the equaliser.

Minutes later, Unicomb finally found himself in space and could shape to shoot for the first time in the game. But Durose pulled off a fine save low to his left to deny the United top scorer a goal this time.

With ten minutes remaining, it was Durose again who got a leg in the way to prevent Bertakis having a crack at goal after excellent play by Carrasco to set the chance up.

But that was United’s last throw of the dice. And in the final five minutes or so, it was Olympic who came closest to nicking a late victory.

Substitute Isaac Lee fired just wide from close range with Bleakley beaten. And then, in the 88^th minute, Ueda ran onto a fine long ball on the edge of the area. He sent a right foot shot heading for the far corner, but Bleakley just got a finger to it to push the ball onto the post and save what would have been a certain winner for Olympic.

Speaking after the game, Greg Valic acknowledged that his side had been too timid in the first half and were outplayed by Olympic, but in the second half “we played some of the best football I’ve seen all season and we totally dominated. I couldn’t have asked for more from the boys.”

The result leaves United looking safe in mid-table after 16 matches. The point may not be what Olympic hoped to take from this game, but it leaves them in a strong position for the play offs, in fourth spot and only five points behind league leaders Bulli.


South Coast United - 1 (Gong Jun Lee 68' pen)

Wollongong Olympic - 1 (Ueda 12’)

Macedonia Park - Wednesday 13 July 2016

Referee: Greg Reid

Assistant referees: Stuart Bell, Lottie Cabassi-Power

South Coast United: Jason Bleakley, Lee Gilroy, Aden Wade, Robbie Brown, Dinko Terzic, Tommy Skara, Oliver Carrasco, Cameron Solevski (Ricky Bertakis 54’), Gong Jun Lee (Anton Batur 82’), Liam Unicomb, Yuki Kiyohara (subs not used:, Ben Lucas, Chris Lazarevski)

Wollongong Olympic: Hayden Durose, Haydyn Lloyd, Jack Keating, Jake Duczynski, Sam Gordon, Harvey Rodriguez, Ja Kon Yu (Andrej Gacesa 85’), Harrison Brown, Brendan Fordham (Isaac Lee 72’), Kyle Hazebroek (Chris Jackson 90 + 3’), Yusuke Ueda, (sub not used: Lee Kizi)

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo: Pedro Garcia (Library Archive)