In front of a lively Macedonia Park crowd, Kemblawarra Fury thumped six goals past a bewildered Wollongong Olympic in a remarkable 6-1 win.

It took three minutes for Fury to open their account. Miscommunication in the Olympic back line allowed Matthew McNab to get on the ball in the box and he made no mistake in burying the ball in the bottom left corner.

Fury doubled their advantage three minutes later when Brendan Fordham's poor clearance dribbled to Shane Murray who blasted the ball past a helpless Hayden Durose. A stunning start for the Fury who became the first side this season to find the back of Olympic's net on more than one occasion.

With twenty minutes on the clock, Olympic pulled a goal back through Fordham. The Olympic captain produced a looping header that floated over the backtracking Daniel Arcaba before the Fury keeper tripped and spilt the ball into the net. A fortunate goal which kept Olympic in the contest.

Undeterred, Fury continued to play a free flowing brand of football that varied significantly from their usual conservative play. On the half hour mark, they reestablished their two goal lead through Sam Matthews who got on the end of Jordan Nikolovski's pinpoint cross - A confident finish from the makeshift striker.

Fury went into the half time interval leading 3-1 with the vocal crowd given an opportunity to take in what had been an extraordinary half of football.

Fury seemed determined to lay down a marker and two minutes into the second half they nearly had their fourth. Nikolovski was played through on goal but Durose produced a smothering save before the ball was cleared.

The fourth goal came in the 55th minute when Fury won a free kick on the edge of Olympic's box. The wily Alvin Ceccoli opted to take a quick free kick and he hit the ball past startled Durose and into the goal. The Olympic players protested but the goal stood and they were not staring down the barrel of an embarrassing defeat.

In the 75th minute, Durose made a solid save off a diving McNab header but the ball rolled out for Nikolovski who rifled the ball back through the crowd and into the bottom left corner. A magnificent strike from the teenager who was having an afternoon to remember.

The rout was rounded off in the 82nd minute when substitute Fabian Iacovelli took a snapshot from the edge of the box which managed to squeeze under Durose and roll into the net. A disappointing effort from the Olympic number 1 who had been decent considering the scoreline.

The match came to its conclusion with Kemblawarra winning 6-1.

The victory sets up a mouthwatering clash between Fury and Bulli with the winner going through to the Grand Final. The sides played out two enthralling score draws during the campaign and though this result has put everyone on notice, their coach, Luke McGuire chose to play down his side's chances against the 'I, “They finished seven points above us in the league, they lost one game all year and we couldn’t beat them, so for me, they’re still the title favourites.”

As for Olympic, the humiliating defeat is the overall equal second biggest of the season and the six goals against is 50% of what they conceded in the twenty-two round regular season. They face Port Kembla next weekend in a do or die semi final clash. Olympic coach, Rob Birkin has a number of crucial decisions to make such as whether or not to rush the likes of Jack Keating and John Martinoski back from injury. He will also be concerned about the struggles of Premier League top scorer, Yusuke Ueda who couldn't get himself in the game.

 

Click this link to listen to the post match interview with Kemblawarra Fury coach, Luke McGuire - https://soundcloud.com/dylanarvela/luke-mcguire-after-fury-thumped-olympic-6-1-in-qualifying-final

 

Wollongong Olympic - 1 (Fordham 19’)

Kemblawarra Fury - 6 (McNab 3’, Murray 6’, Matthews 29’, Ceccoli 55’, Nikolovski 75’, Iacovelli 82’)

 

Sunday the 7th of September 2017 at Macedonia Park

 

Wollongong Olympic - Hayden Durose, Haydyn Lloyd, Dylan Perlowski, Jake Duczynski, Shun Tokuno, Lukas Stergiou, Brendan Belsito, Stefan Dimoski, Nuno Pires and Yusuke Ueda - Subs - Jamie Wakeling (on for Tokuno), Christian Cabo (on for Lloyd), Johnathon Michalopoulos (on for Fordham), John Martinoski and Jack Keating

 

Kemblawarra Fury - Daniel Arcaba, Steven Wright, Brenton Rhodes, Albin Ceccoli, Jordan Nikolovski, Shane Murray, Sam Munro, Sam Matthews, Lachlan O’Connor, Kazuto Kyshida and Matthew McNab - Subs - David Hartas (on for Murray), Fabian Iacovelli (on for Munro), Dean Pender, Robbie Shields (on for Nikolovski) and David Zufic

 

Referee - Andrew Naylor

Assistant Referees - Blake Herbert and Brad Moreira

4th Official - Peter Ilcevski

 

Report by Dylan Arvela

Photo courtesy of Kiah Hufton