The round 7 clash between Wollongong Olympic and Albion Park White Eagles was an encounter between two sides experiencing vastly different seasons. The home side found themselves in 3rd after a stellar start to the season with their only defeat coming against a well-drilled Tarrawanna unit. As for Albion Park, they came into the match languishing in 9th. Despite this, a win against a high-flying Olympic could have seen them move into the top 5.

The White Eagles enjoyed a promising start to the match with Yosuke Tashiro having a shot on goal in the opening 90 seconds. The effort from a tight angle was well saved by Hayden Durose in the Olympic' goal.

The home side struggled to get the ball off the reigning premiers but come the 15th minute, Olympic grabbed the lead. After an error by Albion Park’s Bryce Daenell, the ball ended up with John Martinoski in the right corner. He played a cross into Jack Balmforth who blasted the ball past the retreating Daenell, into the back of the net.

The goal led to a seismic shift in momentum with Olympic looking lethal in every attack. In the ten minutes after the goal, the home side had five big chances to double their lead. First through Balmforth who had his shot blocked on the line followed by two chances for Yusuke Ueda, a half volley by Martinoski that swirled just over the bar and a mishit volley from Harrison Brown.

The seemingly inevitable second goal came in the 29th minute after a set play off a free kick 10 metres in from the left corner flag. Balmforth touched the ball back for Martinoski to play in a looping cross that curled into Ueda who headed into the far side netting - a delightful passage of play.

Albion Park nearly responded in the 35th minute via a long ball for Tashiro. Durose hesitated when coming to clear the danger but he misjudged the bounce which allowed the Japanese striker to run through on goal. The Olympic’ keeper was spared his blushes when his fullback, Shun Tokuno recovered to intercept the ball off his compatriot just as he seemed certain to score.

Olympic went into halftime with the two-goal advantage. White Eagles’ boss, Jeff Allport would have been lamenting his side’s poor passage of play in the middle stages of the half but aware his players were still capable of turning the match around.

Similar to the first half, Albion Park had an early chance in the second. This time the opportunity came for Shohei Okuno via a free kick 25 metres out from goal. Last season’s player of the season - capable of the sublime - lashed the ball to the right of Durose but the ball just fizzed over the bar.

The home side began to shift down the tempo of the match to nullify the opportunities of their opponents. A key player in this breakdown of the game was Ueda, who was able to latch onto passes in the White Eagle’s half and earn free kicks through his hold up play.

Despite the restrictions Olympic was able to impose on the away side, Albion Park managed to work an opportunity in the 78th minute. Tashiro forced his way around his marker and cut back from the byline for substitute Lee Gilroy. The former South Coast United man was unmarked near the penalty mark but his shot went tamely into the keeper’s arms.

With five minutes remaining Olympic should have gone further ahead. Ueda was able to control a lofted ball into the box with his chest before flicking it over his head for Martinoski. The number 10 was unmarked and from less than 10 metres out he scooped his shot over the goal. The in-form playmaker left on his knees as he could not believe he had missed the target.

The White Eagles pushed bodies forward but a makeshift front four was not able for carve out any more opportunities against the resolute Olympic defence. The score finishing Wollongong Olympic 2 Albion Park White Eagles 0.

The win sees Olympic leapfrog Kemblawarra Fury into 2nd place, a win behind frontrunners Bulli. Olympic has 5 wins from their opening 7 matches but after the match their coach, Rob Birkin remained coy on their pursuit of silverware, “We are in round 7 so silverware is a little bit too far down the track.” His side is next in action against Wollongong United at Macedonia Park on Saturday.

The defeat was Albion Park’s fourth of the season, which is how many they suffered in the entirety of their 2016 campaign. Despite the worrying start to the season, coach Jeff Allport remains optimistic, “We’ve got a lot of work in front of us, the only way we do that [improve] is by getting to training and keep trying to improve on the things we know we can do.” It does not get any easier for the White Eagles with the Fury coming to Terry Reserve next Sunday. Before that, they face Waverley Old Boys in the FFA Cup 5th round on Wednesday night, a win at Valentine Park will see them face Hakoah Sydney City East of the NSW NPL1.

 

Post match interviews with the two coaches - https://soundcloud.com/dylanarvela/post-match-interviews-from-wollongong-olympics-win-over-albion-park-white-eagles

 

Wollongong Olympic - 2 (Balmforth 15’, Ueda 29’)

Albion Park White Eagles - 0

 

Saturday the 6th of May, 2016 at PCYC, North Wollongong

 

Wollongong Olympic - Hayden Durose, Haydyn Lloyd, Shun Tokuno, Jack Keating, Harrison Brown, Lukas Stergiou, Yusuke Ueda, John Martinoski, Jake Duczynski, Brendan Fordham and Jack Balmforth

Subs - Brendan Belsite (on for Balmforth), Jamie Wakeling, Dylan Perlowski (on for Brown) and Christian Kyriakou (on for Martinoski)

Coach - Rob Birkin

Albion Park White Eagles - Bryce Daenell, Dejan Djukic, Mark Every, Shannon Fielding, Boden Allport, Robbie Del Banco, Mitch Del Turco, Vaughan Patterson, Yosuke Tashiro, Shohei Okuno and Chris Nathaniel

Subs - Hikaru Kawasakiya (on for Allport), Darren Jones (on for Djukic), Peter Prandalos, Lee Gilroy (on for Del Turco) and Jacob Hufton

Coach - Jeff Allport

 

Referee - Peter Ilcevski

Assistant referees - John Rusica and Josh Spain

 

Report by Dylan Arvela on Twitter @dylanarvela