A sunbathed PCYC played host to the clash between two sides with strong hopes of finals football. Wollongong Olympic came into the match on 4 points after a hard fought point against Corrimal last weekend. Port Kembla started their season at home to Wollongong United last Sunday, after taking the lead early they lost 2-1 to one of the early season favourites.

Olympic began the match at a rapid pace with two shots inside the opening three minutes. First a header from captain Brendan Fordham and then a 25-metre effort from Yusuke Ueda that smashed against the top right corner of the goal frame.

Against the run of play, Port opened the scoring in the 5th minute through Chris Smith. The home side turned over the ball over for Jung Seuk Jung to steam towards goal. 20 metres out, he played through Smith who was one on one with Hayden Durose before side-footing the ball into the bottom right corner. Excellent counter attacking football.

It only took five minutes for Olympic to draw level - an equaliser in a similar mould to Port’s goal. Ueda picked the ball up from 25 metres out before playing Nuno Pires through on goal. With Brad Jardine to beat, Pires placed the ball into the bottom left to have the scores at 1-1 after just 10 minutes.

The illation of the leveller was withered away in the 16th minute when Blake Coates received a red card for a reckless challenge on Port Kembla’s Joey Lavalle. Lavalle required assistance from the field and after a few minutes, he was ruled out of the match with Sandy Lowcock entering the action.

With the man advantage, it was up to Port Kembla to take control of the match, however, Olympic nullified them for the remainder of the first half. The best chance after the red card came for Olympic in the 31st minute, with Jack Balmforth controlling a deep cross from Shun Tokuno on the 18-yard line before forcing Jardine into a crucial save.

Port Kembla should have been the more optimistic of the two sides given their numerical advantage but within two minutes of the restart, Port Kembla goalscorer Smith was forced off the field after a seemingly innocuous bump on the knee. A frustrating blow for Noel Spencer’s side.

Similar to the last half an hour of the first half, the opening 20 minutes of the second half was blighted by fouls, preventing either team to play. The only real chance in this period of play was a direct freekick from Balmforth that forced Jardine into action. As for Port, the closest that came was a glancing header from substitute Mitchell Scazzariello.

In the 70th minute, Olympic had a golden opportunity crafted by Ueda who played Martinoski through on goal. Martinoski surged towards the goal but Kyle Hazebroek-Southgate put in a last-ditch challenge to prevent the number 10 from delivering a forceful strike.

Martinoski began to take control of the match, floating across the Olympic front 3. In the 77th minute, he miraculously put the home side ahead. Balmforth countered down the right wing and cut a cross back to an unmarked Martinoski on the edge of the 18-yard box, who curled a shot past Jardine’s right glove with his cultured left boot. This fine counter, topped by the high-quality finish had the Olympic supporters in raptures.

Now Port was faced with the prospect of playing against 10 men for 70 minutes and coming away with no points. This in mind, Port pushed higher up the park but they were unable to make any inroads into the Olympic defence who forced countless turnovers.

The courageous effort by Olympic was capped off in the 88th minute when they pulled two goals ahead through their 2016 top scorer, Ueda. Once again, Martinoski had a hand in the play, finding Ueda from the left side of the field who tucked his strike into the bottom left of the net. The third goal sealing the 3-1 victory for Olympic who now have 2 wins from their opening 3 matches.

After the match, Olympic boss, Rob Birkin spoke of the togetherness in his side, “I take my hat off to the team, they’re a tight bunch and that’s the quality they’ve got”. Next up for Olympic is an away match against heavyweights Kemblawarra Fury on Easter Sunday, kickoff at 2.30 pm. As for Port, they face Picton at Wetherall Park in a match Spencer described post match as, “a must win game… if we think we’re top 5 material we must win, simple as that”. Spencer confirmed that Smith suffered a knee injury which may rule him out long term and Lavalle picked up a cork which may see him miss the Picton match. This match is on Saturday, 2.30 pm kickoff.

 

The post match interviews with the two coaches - https://soundcloud.com/dylaneloiarvela/post-match-interviews-after-10-man-olympic-upset-port-kembla

 

Wollongong Olympic - 3 (Pires 10’, Martinoski 77’, Ueda 88’)

Port Kembla - 1 (Smith 5’)

 

Saturday April 8th 2017 at the PCYC, North Wollongong

 

Wollongong Olympic - Hayden Durose, Haydyn Lloyd, Shun Tokuno, Jack Keating, Harrison Brown, Lukas Stergiou, Yuseke Ueda, John Martinoski, Blake Coates, Nuno Pires, Brendan Fordham

Subs - Brendan Belsito, Jamie Wakeling, Dion Avouris, Dylan Perlovski, Jack Balmforth, Nicholas Kyriakoudes

Coach - Rob Birkin

 

Port Kembla - Brad Jardine, Blake McGinn, William Mobbs, Matt Werakso, Carlo Stella, Kyle Hazebroek-Southgate, Kody Maude, Ben Zucco, Chris Smith, Joey Lavalle, Jung Seuk Jung

Subs - Mitchell Scazzariello, Brooklyn Frkovic, Douglas Woodiwiss, Sandy Lowcock

Coach - Noel Spencer

 

Referee - Nathan Wotton

Assistant referees - Emma Hayes and Brendan Fotheringham

 

Report by Dylan Arvela on Twitter @dylaneloiarvela

Photo courtesy of Pedro Garcia