Wollongong Olympic secured a 3-0 victory in a brutal match against Albion Park White Eagles on Sunday night at Terry Reserve.
A John Martinoski brace on either side of halftime and a Tory Musumeci goal guided the visitors to their fifth win of the 2022 Illawarra Premier League.
It was a stop-start opening quarter-of-an-hour with neither side holding the ball for extended periods of time.
Six minutes in, Olympic attacker Martinoski took on a volley from outside the box that sailed over the bar.
Four minutes later, Brendon Low muscled his way into the box for the visitors and had a couple of shots blocked before the White Eagles were awarded a freekick.
In the next minutes, the home side had a few chances themselves with Julian Minutillo getting on the end of two freekicks in quick succession, yet neither header troubled the Olympic goal.
In the 17th minute, Chris Nathaniel picked up the ball in a central position outside the box and fired a shot into the gloves of Justin Pasfield in the Wollongong Olympic goal.
Kotaro Katsuta dragged a shot wide of the far post from a tight angle in the left of the box four minutes later.
Midway through the half, two firm tackles from James O’Rourke on the edge of his own box facilitated a counter-attacking opportunity for Olympic.
Joe Lavalle moved the ball out to the left for Liam Wille who played a one-two with Martinoski; the winger receiving the ball inside the box, but his shot was blocked.
With half an hour played, Ethan Kambisios made room for a shot just outside the box that flew narrowly over the right side of the goal.
With five minutes left in the first half, Wollongong Olympic found the opening goal.
Martinoski curling left-footed effort from a freekick on the right edge of the box into the top right corner.
The side nearly doubled their advantage a couple of minutes later, as Sandy Lowcock delivered a ball from the byline to Musmeci in the middle of the box who missed from close range.
Despite a couple of scrambles at the back in the final moments of the half, Wollongong Olympic went into halftime with the lead.
The side came out of the sheds flying for the second half with two goals in the first nine minutes of the second half.
In the 48th minute, Wille powered down the left channel before finding Martinoski in the middle of the box whose first-time left-footed effort squeezed under Albion Park keeper Mohamed Krishban rolling just inside the right post.
Six minutes later, Olympic picked up a third with Musumeci rifling a shot from a central position on the right edge of the box into the top left corner.
A quickfire double just after the break had put the away side in a commanding position heading into the remainder of the match.
Olympic continued to push on looking for more goals with the side consistently creating shooting opportunities.
Fifty-six minutes in Lowcock burst in behind the Albion Park defence; one-on-one with Krishban attempting to slide his shot into the far right corner but it was straight at the keeper.
In the 63rd minute, Goodchild had a shot from outside the box that Krishban got down to his right to save.
A couple of minutes later, the visitors were awarded a freekick in a similar position to where the side scored from in the first half – this time on the left side.
Martinoski took responsibility again, this time; however, it went over the bar.
The opportunities kept dripping through for Olympic and in the 68th minute, Wille once more found space on the left.
The former Wollongong Wolves player found Lowcock in the middle who shifted the ball onto his right foot before shovelling a shot wide of the right post.
Ten minutes later, Wille picked up the ball centrally and drove towards the goal; however, he rolled the resulting shot into Krishban’s arms.
The White Eagles nearly pulled one back in second-half stoppage time with Minutillo taking on a shot from the left corner of the box that Pasfield saved at the near post.
Wollongong Olympic went on to secure a 3-0 win against Albion Park White Eagles.
The side travels to Ocean Park this Saturday with Tynan Diaz’s freekick separating the two sides when they met earlier in the season in a 1-0 win for Olympic.
This was Albion Park’s first defeat of the season and it will be another tricky encounter for the Alvin Ceccoli’s team next Sunday hosting Wollongong United.
Albion Park White Eagles 0
Wollongong Olympic 3 (John Martinoski 40’ 48’, Tory Musumeci 54’)
Albion Park White Eagles: 1. KRISHBAN Mohamed, 2. MARTIN Jacob, 8. LEIGHTON Jake, 4. SUZAKI Kohei, 13. NATHANIEL Chris, 6. KAMBISIOS Ethan, 10. VIGGIANI Adrian, 16. SAVERINO Dean, 11. KATSUTA Kotaro, 9. MINUTILLO Julian, 7. MORGAN Cameron
Substitutes: 12. SEADON Riley (SAVERINO 46’), 14. JELLIFFE Brodey (KAMBISIOS 67’), 21. FORDHAM Brendan, 3. CAKIC Luka, 41. SOUTHERN Deakin
Wollongong Olympic: 1. PASFIELD Justin, 6. HARTAS David, 17. O’ROURKE James, 2. KIZI Jordan, 10. GOODCHILD Rick, 12. LOW Brendon, 8. LAVALLE Joe, 9. MUSUMECI Tory, 25. MARTINOSKI John, 14. WILLE Liam, 19. LOWCOCK Sandy
Substitutes: 22. FUENTEZ Cristofer, 3. MAVRIDIS Mason (LOWOCK 73’), 11. HOGAN Dylan (MARTINOSKI 82’), 4. MORPHETT Bailey, 7. JONES Harrison (WILLIE 87’)
Date: 5 June 2022
Venue: Terry Reserve, Albion Park
Referee: Bobby Mazevski
Assistant Referees: Brendon Fotheringham and Damien Delovski
Report by Timothy Gibson, on Twitter @Timg123_
Photo courtesy of Kiah Hufton
