Wollongong Olympic maintained the pressure on Bulli at the top of the Illawarra Mercury Premier League with a 2-1 win over Wollongong United at the PCYC.

There was plenty on the line for both sides with United entrenched in a battle for finals football. This led to a cagey opening with a long range Stefan Dimoski effort the only shot of note in the opening quarter of an hour.

United’s first decent chance came in the 18th minute when Ricky Zucco flicked the ball on for Taka Noji, who ran into the right of the box. The Japanese attacker sprayed his shot across the goal from a tight angle.

On the half hour mark, Zucco lined up a free kick from 30 metres out, his driven effort ricocheted off the ground for Billy Tsovolos who headed the ball over the bar. Five minutes later, Zucco nearly sparked the game into life when he won the ball just inside Olympic’s half before attempting a 40-yard lob that floated over the bar by less than a metre - heart in mouth stuff for the back tracking Hayden Durose.

In the second before halftime, Olympic had another chance when Shun Tokuno picked out Ueda but the striker thumped his volley well over the bar. This saw the two sides go into the interval at nil all.

This did not remain the case for much longer with Hayato Yakumaru opening the scoring less than a minute into the second half. The midseason recruit hit a sweet half volley from just outside the box which flew into the bottom left corner of Sam Nastic's goal, with the help of a slight deflection. The striker opening Yakumaru's goalscoring account for his new club.

Nastic produced a suburb save two minutes later when Harrison Brown whizzed in a cross which took a number of deflections before finding the feet of Ueda inside the 6 yard box. The striker pumped the ball at goal but Nastic spread himself to deny the league's top marksman.

In the 55th minute, Zucco unleashed Noji down the right channel where he cut the ball back for Mikal Awad on the edge of the area but eventual shot curled to the left of the goal.

For the first time since April, Nuno Pires was on the park for Olympic and within minutes of entering the match, the number 23 had fired a shot from distance that hit the base of the left post.

The game rapidly deteriorated in quality during the middle stages of the second half, with both sides offering very little going forward. With a couple of minutes remaining, Brendan Fordham forced his way into United's area before he was fouled by the inexperienced Zac Mazevski. This gave Ueda the opportunity to score his 21st league goal of the season which he didn't pass up, sending the keeper the wrong way before passing the ball into the bottom right.

The second goal secured the three points but United was able to pull a goal back in the final seconds of the match with Noji bundling the ball into the net from close range.

The win keeps Olympic one point behind Bulli who managed a 1-0 win over Port Kembla. Their coach, Rob Birkin praised his defenders after the match, “”It’s the way we defend every week, there is some quality guys back there and that is why we are where we are.”

Olympic travel to Hume Oval next weekend to face Picton and they may be without John Martinoski who sustained a leg injury late in the first half with Birkin saying the situation “does not look good.”

It was a missed opportunity for United who would have edged into the top five with a point however their coach, Zivko Jovanovski is still hopeful of finals football, “I reckon if we get in the top five… we can match it with anybody in the league.” United play Kemblawarra Fury next weekend.

 

Interview - https://soundcloud.com/dylanarvela/post-match-interviews-from-olympics-win-over-wollongong-united

 

Wollongong Olympic - 2 (Yakumaru 46’, Ueda (pen) 89’)

 

Wollongong United - 1 (Noji 90+2)

 

Saturday the 5th of August, 2017 at the PCYC, North Wollongong

 

Wollongong Olympic - Hayden Durose, Haydyn Lloyd, Shun Tokuno, Jack Keating, Lukas Stergiou, Yusuke Ueda, John Martinoski, Jake Buczynski, Hayato Yakumaru, Stefen Dimoski and Brendan Fordham - Subs - Brendan Belsito (on for Dimoski), Harrison Brown (on for Martinoski), Jamie Wakeling and Nuno Pires (on for Yakumaru)

 

Wollongong United - Sam Nastic, Maty Brannan. Milan Zoric, Ben Brooks, Jake Leighton, Billy Tsovolos, Taka Noji, Mikal Awad, Zac McLaren, Klime Sekutkoski and Ricky Zucco - Subs - Angelo Hajittofi, Jackson Brooks, Steve Ugrinovski (on for Zoric), Bradley Acev (on for Awad) and Zac Mazevski

 

Referee - Andrew Naylor

 

Assistant Referees - Reece Edwards and Trae Arnold

 

Report by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela

 

Photo courtesy of Wollongong United