Wollongong Olympic fought back from a goal down to take the points in a tight match against Bulli FC at PCYC.
It was always going to be a feisty affair with half the Olympic starting line having featured for Bulli previously.
Olympic started on the front foot and as early as the second minute, they mustered a good opportunity. With some neat footwork, Rick Goodchild managed to evade a defender on the right before putting in a cross to Shoji Mori who dropped it to the feet of Lukas Stergiou who blasted over from ten yards.
On 14 minutes, some good midfield pressure from Bulli forced a turnover. Ben McDonald got on the end of it however his shot from 25 yards just didn’t have the pace to beat Justin Pasfield.
Halfway through the first period, Chris Price created a yard of space in the box on the left. He put in a teasing ball to the far post that eluded everyone as it struck the upright and fell back into play.
Bulli was awarded a free kick in a dangerous position just before the break however McDonald really should have done better as he wasted the opportunity.
Just seconds before the break, Aaron Baker was shown a red card following a second cautionable offence.
Bulli took the halftime opportunity to shuffle a few things with a player down.
Just minutes after the restart, a long ball saw Lewis Grimshaw get in front of Price driving towards goal. His right foot strike managed to sneak in off the far post to put the away side in front.
Just minutes later, Tetsunari Nishimura turned beautifully inside the box and lashed a shot that found the far post, bouncing away.
On 53 minutes, a long Pasfield clearance saw Goodchild flick on a header into the path of Mori whose left foot shot from just inside the box was blasted over the bar.
Wollongong Olympic were pushing hard for a goal and with 15 minutes left, Price swung a delightful ball across goal finding the head of Nishimura. The header though brought about an outstanding save from Ayman Hill.
With just 10 minutes left, Wollongong Olympic were awarded a penalty for what appeared to be a push in the box. The reliable Goodchild made no mistake despite Hill getting a hand to the ball. Olympic were now level.
Heartbreak for Bulli on 88 minutes as the ball dropped to Nishimura on the edge of the box. His low powerful shot went through a crowd of players and nestled into the bottom corner to complete the comeback for Olympic.
There was one last chance for Marcelo Martellotta at the death as his long range low effort narrowly missed the target.
Bulli will consider themselves unlucky not to get anything out of the game with Olympic for the third straight week scoring late to get points.
Olympic face Port Kembla next week with Bulli hosting Tarrawanna.
Report by Bobby Mazevski
Photos: Dana Walker
