Wollongong Olympic are through to their second Bert Bampton cup final in three years after the side downed Wollongong United 3-1 at Macedonia Park on Tuesday night. Two strikes from Olympic midfielder Vaughan Patterson in the final five minutes of the first half gave the visitors a 2-0 lead going into the break before United would pull a goal back through Matt Gordon in the 74^th minute. However, an 85^th minute Yusuke Ueda penalty would secure the win for Wollongong Olympic and book their ticket in the Bert Bampton Cup final for another year.

With both sides having faced each other just three days earlier in a tense 0-0 Illawarra Mercury Premier League clash at PCYC, both sides went into the match with a mostly unchanged lineup, Olympic opting to place David Hartas in the starting XI instead of John Martinoski and United starting Jackson Brooks and Zac Nicholas in place of Dominic Hudap and Hayden Morton.

With both sides out to take an early lead in the match, Olympic fans could be forgiven after thinking they had taken the lead in the 8^th minute after Yusuke Ueda managed to head home a great cross from Jack Balmforth, but the goal would not be allowed after Ueda was found to have strayed into an offside position.

Wollongong United had a strong chance of their own to break open the match in the 28^th minute when Kazuto Kushida was released onto goal with the ball, his bursting run managing to break through the Olympic defensive line and only stopped by a powerful save from Olympic gloveman Hayden Durose, who shut down the one-on-one chance and ensured United did not move in front.

But it was the visitors who broke the deadlock in the 41^st minute, with a fantastic ball into the box from Lukas Stergiou managing to find the head of Yusuke Ueda. Ueda who was under a significant amount of defensive pressure could only manage to head the ball towards Vaughan Patterson, who got his head to the pass and fire off an effort that just went over the top of United shot-stopper Sam Nastic and into the back of the net, giving the visitors a slim lead.

Olympic managed to double their advantage four minutes later, with Patterson picking up his second goal of the match after a deflection allowed him to simply tap home a shot past Nastic to give Olympic a handy 2-0 lead at the break.

Wollongong United would come out firing in the second half as Olympic began to slow down play, and the hosts came close to pulling a goal back in the 63^rd minute when a Matt Gordon free-kick managed to find the head of Kazuto Kushida in the box. Kushida, who did extremely well to rise to the ball, was unable to direct his effort towards goal, his header just flying over the bar.

Another chance for United went begging in the 65^th minute when a header from Kenta Azechi found Zac Nicholas in the box, but Nicholas was unable to hit the back of the net for the hosts, his shot blasting over the Olympic bar, unable to trouble Hayden Durose.

United finally pulled themselves back into the match in the 74^th minute when the side was awarded a free-kick in front of the Olympic goal, allowing Matt Gordon to step up and fire off an effort that beat the wall and a diving Hayden Durose to find the right side of the net and give United an entryway back into the match.

Olympic would seal the win in the 85^th minute however, when Yusuke Ueda was brought down in the box and awarded a penalty. The leading Illawarra Premier League scorer would need no extra motivation to add to his tally for the season, sending a diving Sam Nastic the wrong way to hand Olympic their two-goal lead back.

Despite a strong Wollongong United push in the final five minutes of the match, Olympic managed to hold out and shut down their attacks and claim a vital 3-1 victory, a result that sends them into their second Bert Bampton Cup final in three seasons and puts coach George Antoniou into his second Bert Bampton Cup final in a row after he led the Albion Park White Eagles to a final appearance last season.

Olympic will now face Corrimal Rangers in the 2018 Bert Bampton Cup final after the Rangers pushed past fellow Illawarra Premier League side Woonona Sharks 3-0 in the other semi final at Memorial Park on Tuesday night.

In the Youth Cup semi final, Port Kembla ran out 3-0 winners over Wollongong United. Goals to Sandy Lowcock, Josh Crapis and Bailey Fleming.

Tuesday 10 July 2018 at Macedonia Park.

Wollongong United – 1 (Gordon 74’)

Wollongong Olympic – 3 (Patterson 41’, 45’, Ueda 85’)

Wollongong United: Sam NASTIC, Kenta AZECHI, Maty BRENNAN, Ben BROOKS, Jackson BROOKS, Mark EVERY, Matt GORDON, Kazuto KUSHIDA, Sam MUNRO, Daisuke YUZAWA, Zac NICHOLAS

Subs: Ben WUNSCH, Jacob MARTIN, Sam ADNUM (YUZAWA 78’), Alex BAUSCH (MUNRO 71’), Ky SIMPSON (NICHOLAS 68’)

Wollongong Olympic: Hayden DUROSE, Shun TOKUNO, Jack KEATING, Jake DUCZYNSKI, David HARTAS, Lukas STERGIOU, Vaughan PATTERSON, Brendan FORDHAM, Kojiro HORI, Jack BALMFORTH, Yusuke UEDA

Subs: John MARTINOSKI, Ekoue D’ALMEIDA (STERGIOU 78’), Christian CABO (BALMFORTH 86’), Christian PRETTO

Referee – Nathan WOTTON

Assistant Referees – Brodie MERCHANT and Lachlan MCRAE

Report by Cal Behrendt, on Twitter @CalBehrendt

File Photo: Dana Gurthrie