Wollongong Olympic flashed their Illawarra Mercury title credentials on Sunday afternoon, downing fellow title-challenger Port Kembla 2-1 at Wetherall Park. Port Kembla struck the opening goal of the encounter through a Sandy Lowcock effort but Wollongong Olympic instantly pulled back through Yusuke Ueda before taking the lead shortly afterwards thanks to a John Martinoski overhead strike. Despite pushing for most of the second half, Port Kembla were unable to find an equalizer, keeping Olympic in top spot and pushing Port Kembla out of the top five.

Port Kembla came into the fixture hoping to reverse their recent league history against Olympic – with the side last having claimed three points in the regular season back in August 2015 – but Olympic came out seeking to stamp their authority on the match and the side came dangerously close to breaking the deadlock in the 16^th minute after a Ikumi Saito corner found the head of Vaughan Patterson deep in the Port Kembla box. However, the Olympic midfielder was unable to direct his headed effort goalward, nodding the ball wide and into the Port Kembla defence.

Port Kembla had a golden opportunity of their own to fire into the lead in the 24^th minute after a quick break saw Jayden Salucci with enough space to level a cross to Fabian Iacovelli, who managed to show great skill to produce a volley that was only denied by the great positioning of Wollongong Olympic’s Kojiro Hori, with the shot deflecting off the Olympic defender and falling to the feet of Port Kembla’s Luke Boersma on the edge of the box. However, Boersma was unable to write his name into the headlines, his effort ending up mis-hit and sliding away from the Olympic goal-mouth.

But Boersma made up for his missed effort three minutes later with a stunning through ball that split the Olympic defence and found Sandy Lowcock in front of goal with only a rushing Hayden Durose ahead of him. Lowcock made no mistake of the effort, burying the ball past the reach of Durose and into the bottom right corner to hand Port Kembla the lead.

However, the lead was a short-lived one for the hosts, with Wollongong Olympic leveling the scores a minute later after the side was awarded a penalty for a challenge on Julian Minutillo in the box. Wollongong Olympic’s top scorer for the season, Yusuke Ueda, stepped up to the spot and powered the ball into the bottom-left corner, just sneaking past the reach of a diving Chris Fuentes Ramirez and pulling the sides level.

But the visitors were not finished with their goal-scoring campaign and the side added their second goal of the match in the 32^nd minute after Yusuke Ueda managed to spin the ball into the center of the box where John Martinoski was able to receive the ball and show tremendous skill to push the ball over his head and into the back of the net, handing Olympic a slim lead as the two sides entered the half-time interval.

With both sides desperate to get another goal which could change the outcome of the fixture, it was Olympic who came out the stronger of the two sides in the second half, with the side coming close to adding their third of the afternoon in the 50^th minute after an Ikumi Saito cross found the head of Vaughan Patterson in the box, but Patterson’s header was denied by a fantastic diving save from Port Kembla custodian Chris Fuentes Ramirez, who tipped the ball around the right hand post and out of play.

Wollongong Olympic had another golden opportunity to pull further ahead six minutes later when the side was awarded their second penalty of the afternoon after Yusuke Ueda was brought down in the box. Ueda again opted to bury the ball into the bottom left corner but this time his effort was denied by a fantastic stop from Port Kembla shot-stopper Chris Fuentes Ramirez, who managed to reach the effort and deny a third goal for the visitors.

Despite pushing further and further in search of an equalizing goal, Port Kembla were mostly limited to long-range strikes for most of the second period of play, with Luke Boersma having the best chance to level the scores for the hosts in the 69^th minute after he obtained enough space on the edge of the box to fire a powerful effort goal-ward. However, Boersma’s effort was not accurate enough to pull the scores level, with his effort just slipping past the left-hand post and out of play.

While Wollongong Olympic were willing to soak up pressure, the side continued to prod the Port Kembla defence in search of a third goal which could secure the three points and the side came close to finding that goal in the 74^th minute after a great pass from Jamie Wakeling found Vaughan Patterson on the edge of the box, allowing the Olympic midfield to take a speculative shot goalward which managed to beat a leaping Chris Fuentes Ramirez but not the Port Kembla crossbar, with Patterson’s shot rocketing off the crossbar and back into play, keeping the visitors lead at only one goal.

With the deficit slim, Port Kembla began to throw everything they had at the Olympic defence in the final moments of the match as they searched for a late equalizer, but the side was unable to again broach a backline that had only conceded nine goals to date this campaign, with the full-time whistle signaling the procurement of three points for Olympic, with the visitors holding on for a 2-1 victory.

The result means Wollongong Olympic retake top spot after it was momentarily stolen by Tarrawanna overnight, with George Antoniou’s side two points ahead of the Blueys at the top of the ladder. Olympic will hope to complete the first half of the campaign in top spot when they travel to Macedonia Park to take on third-placed Wollongong United next Saturday in what should be a huge clash between the two sides.

Meanwhile, Port Kembla slip out of the top five for the first time this campaign, with Steven Dimitrievski’s side dropping to sixth on the ladder due to a 2-1 win for Albion Park White Eagles over Fernhill on Saturday. Port Kembla will hope to return to winning ways after losing two straight matches when they travel to JJ Kelly Park to take on a Coniston side who picked up a point in a 0-0 draw with Bulli on Saturday.

Sunday 26 May 2019 at Wetherall Park, Primbee

Port Kembla FC – 1 (Lowcock 27’)

Wollongong Olympic – 2 (Ueda 28’, Martinoski 32’)

Port Kembla FC: Chris FUENTES RAMIREZ, William MOBBS, Nathan BELSITO, Karouna MICHEAL, Nobuaki MOCHIZUKI, Carlo STELLA, Luke BOERSMA, Mitchell DI PIETRO, Jayden SALUCCI, Sandy LOWCOCK, Fabian IACOVELLI

Subs: Toni MUSUMICCI (DI PIETRO 61’), Bradley ACEV (SALUCCI 52’), Kenta HARA (MICHEAL 81’), Joshua CRAPIS, Lachlan THEOBALD

Wollongong Olympic: Hayden DUROSE, Jack KEATING, Mark EVERY, Ikumi SAITO, James KERR, Vaughan PATTERSON, Brendan FORDHAM, Kojiro HORI, John MARTINOSKI, Yusuke UEDA, Julian MINUTILLO

Subs: Peter PRANDALOS (KERR 83’), Ekoue D’ALMEDIA (MINUTILLO 89’), Jamie WAKELING (MARTINOSKI 73’), Christian PRETTO

Referee – Andrew NAYLOR

Assistant Referees – Brendon FOTHERINGHAM and Jacob ZIPPARO

Report by Cal Behrendt, on Twitter @CalBehrendt

Photo courtesy of JC Sports Photography