Wollongong Olympic secured their first win in three games with a 2-0 victory over Port Kembla at PCYC on Saturday afternoon. It took until the early in the second half for the deadlock to break in favour of the hosts, with Yu Hasegawa finding the back of the net before securing the win for Olympic with a second goal just after the hour mark.
The League Champions set the tone early on – four minutes in Corey Haines-Grose got on the end of a John Martinoski cross at the near post from the left-hand side of the park, but was unable to direct his effort on target. In the 15th minute, Martinoski was involved again, picking up the ball on the right-hand side outside the box and firing goalwards – seeing his shot go over. However, a minute later, he came much closer when a shot from a similar angle found the effort striking the crossbar – with Port Kembla custodian Justin Mitrevski beaten.
24 minutes in, Port created an opening of their own with Tory Musumeci setting off on a lung-bursting run down the left-hand side before eventually cutting the ball into the box – forcing an impressive save from Olympic shot-stopper Justin Pasfield. On the half-hour mark, Yu Hasegawa had a great chance to open the scoring as a ball in from the left-hand side found the striker free at the back post – but he was unable to direct his effort either side of Mitrevski with the keeper reacting well to parry the shot away.
With a couple of minutes to play in the first half, the visitors had another sight of goal – this time Jackson Dent picking up the ball on the edge of the box and sending a right-footed effort goal-wards, but the ball went bouncing past the post.
Despite a push from Olympic to pull ahead, the scores were level at the half-time whistle.
Four minutes into the second half, Port Kembla’s Dent was involved again in a strong chance as he whipped a ball with vigour in from the left-hand side which saw Pasfield drop the effort, forcing an Olympic defender to hurriedly clear the danger. In the 53rd minute, Olympic made the breakthrough.
A ball lofted forwards fell to the feet of Yu Hasegawa centrally inside the box, with the forward doing exceptionally well to control the ball before firing a powerful effort into the back of the net.
In the 65th minute, the trailing Port Kembla came forwards once more through Dent, with the winger picking up the ball unmarked in the box – but he scuffed an effort, seeing it roll into the arms of Pasfield.
Four minutes later, Olympic doubled their advantage with Hasegawa grabbing his second of the game. Martinoski’s ball in from the left-hand side found Hasegawa centrally inside the box who – while on the turn – sent a left-footed finish into the far corner of the Port Kembla goal.
Hasegawa didn’t look satisfied with his efforts and in the 73rd minute he had a chance to complete his hat-trick – picking up the ball on the right-hand edge of the box and sending a left-footed curling effort just over the bar.
The hosts played out the game to ensure their fourth victory of the season.
Olympic coach George Antoniou said despite the win, he felt his side could have performed better but praised the performance of star forward Yu Hasegawa.
“I think we can do a lot better than that,” Antoniou said.
“I’m happy at the end of the day with three points – we’ll take it.
“Obviously he’s [Hasegawa] great for the boys – not only on the field, but he’s fantastic off the field.
“He’s been unlucky not to get a couple of goals – thankfully today he got a couple … He’s been fantastic for the club and the team.”
Wollongong Olympic 2 (Yu Hasegawa 53’ 69’)
Port Kembla 0
Wollongong Olympic: 1. PASFIELD Justin, 4. CARLI James, 19. CHAPMAN Timothy, 26. EVERY Mark, 17. HORI Kojiro, 16. AVOURIS Dionisios, 14. MATIAS Keegan, 8. LAVELLE Joey, 9. HASEGAWA Yu, 10. MARTINOSKI John, 11. HAINES-GROSE Corey
Substitutes: 12. HAWKER Joshua (AVOURIS), 7. KIZZI Jordan (HAINES-GROSE), 23. AGNO Harrison (CHAPMAN), 22. MIYAMOTO Seiya
Port Kembla: 21. MITREVSKI Justin, 2. MUSUMECI Antonio, 3. DI PIETRO Mitchell, 4. NIKOLOVSKI Dylan, 5. IACOVELLI Fabian, 6. NIKOLOVSKI Jayden, 7. DENT Jackson, 8. TOBAR Orlando, 9. DJUKIC Danijel, 10. MUSUMECI Tory, 11. HUGHES Jordan
Substitutes: 12. CRAPIS Joshua (HUGHES), 13. MARI Oscar, 14. MORTIMER Jackson (DJUKIC), 15. OSBORNE Isaac, 1. HADAYA Yacoub
Date: 12 September 2020
Venue: PCYC
Referee: Caleb Blanch
Assistant Referees: Ethan Zvargulis and Seth Green
Report by Timothy Gibson, on Twitter @Timg123_
Photo courtesy of JC Sports Photography
