Wollongong Olympic kept their Premiership hopes alive following a tight and nervy 1-0 win over Tarrawanna Blueys at PCYC. A late goal from Nick Litter proved the winner in a game that could have gone either way.
There were very few chances early as both teams kept each other at bay.
On ten minutes, Cameron Morgan crossed to Matias Toro on the edge of the penalty area. He brought it down nicely before firing a goal-bound volley; however, Guy Knight managed to get his head to the ball to deflect it wide.
After the early settling-in period, both sides began to create some opportunities. A Lukas Stergiou free kick on 21 minutes from out wide grazed the crossbar before being cleared.
Just a minute later, Toro fired a goal-bound volley, this time, forcing a save from Ben McGinnes. From the resulting corner, Brody Page’s header was somehow kept out after a goal-line clearance.
Tarrawanna was starting to dominate the first half, and just after the half-hour mark, Morgan and Jayden Nikolovski combined to create a genuine opportunity; however, Litter did enough to snuff out the effort.
On 35 minutes, Tarrawanna had two half-chances go begging. Firstly, Toro blasted over from close range before Shannon Fielding wasted a chance after he headed wide from a pinpoint cross from Jarrad Wiley.
Olympic finished the half strongly. A swift counter saw Jarvis Paterson break down the left before whipping in a dangerous ball that was toed to safety by Nikolovski.
Just a minute later, another Stergiou free kick caused havoc for the Blueys defence as he found Paterson unmarked on the far post. He was unable to keep his effort down as the change went begging.
Olympic had their best chance of the half right on the stroke of half-time. Shoji Mori slipped in Rick Goodchild through on goal, and his left-foot shot to the near post was well saved by Jackson Cracknell as he kept it out with the help of the post.
Olympic started the second half where they left off, with momentum clearly shifting. Paterson broke free and headed towards the goal, and it was a last-ditch effort from Nikolovski that denied him.
On 58 minutes, Olympic really should have been in front. After coming on, Tynan Diaz took over free kick duties, and his cross to the far post was headed back across goal by Littler, and Chris Price from just a few yards out just couldn’t keep his header down in what was a huge let off for the Blueys.
With the game ticking down, Olympic showed some patient ball movement that ended with Littler firing just wide from range.
The breakthrough came on 80 minutes. Another Diaz free kick was whipped in, and Littler flicked his header into the bottom corner to finally break the deadlock.
Just two minutes later, things went from bad to worse for the Blueys as Jayden Nikolovski saw red after having received a second caution in the match.
Olympic managing to hold firm and pick up an important three points.
Olympic will be looking to make it eight league wins in a row when they meet Coniston FC next week whilst Tarrawanna will be looking to solidify third place as they travel to South Coast United.
Match Stats
Report by Bobby Mazevski
Photos courtesy of Gragrapix
