Wollongong Olympic prevailed 3-1 over Coniston to claim the Illawarra Premier League Grand Final in an all-action 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at WIN Stadium.
Tynan Diaz’s first-half goal looked like all Olympic needed, before a spectacular John Martinoski free-kick levelled the scores late on.
Jason Madonis’ red card at the end of regular time gave Coniston further hope heading to extra time but Olympic’s Josh Alcorn and Jarvis Paterson earned Olympic the trophy.
The game got off to a cagey start with neither team conceding any ground early on.
In the 14th minute Coniston nearly got off to the perfect start when a loose ball fell to Tobias Norval on the edge of the box who cannoned a strike back off the post.
Eight minutes later Norval came close again this time his quickly taken volley flew past the left post.
Olympic conjured up an opportunity of their own 26 minutes in as Chris Price headed onto the roof of the net following a chaos-causing set piece.
In the 34th minute Olympic showed more promise as Rick Goodchild turned neatly on the edge of the area and lashed an effort goalwards that narrowly went over.
Five minutes later the side grabbed the opening goal. Lukas Stergiou clipped a delicate pass in behind for Tynan Diaz to chase where the experienced attacker side-footed the ball into the left of the goal.
Olympic’s late goal gave them a slender lead heading to halftime at WIN Stadium.
Olympic came out strongly in the second half as Coniston goalkeeper Jair Fernandez caught Lukas Stergiou’s long-range shot.
The reigning champions came closer just before the hour mark when Diaz spun outside the box and lashed an effort onto the bar.
The chances continued to come for Olympic with Shoji Mori and Diaz firing off-target before substitute Paterson blasted a one-on-one at Fernandez.
Coniston stepped up their pursuit of an equaliser as the match entered the final 10 minutes.
In the 80th minute, Daniel Loe’s long throw found Martinoski in the box, but the attacking midfielder prodded wide.
However five minutes later Coniston restored parity. Martinoski’s long-range free-kick floated over Olympic goalkeeper Justin Pasfield before bouncing into the goal.
The momentum stayed with Coniston and deep into the additional time Madonis dragged down Jayden Branovski as the second last defender prompting a red card from referee Peter Ilcevski.
Despite a tough final 10 regular minutes for Olympic they gathered their composure for extra time.
Two minutes in Chris Price set off a lung-bursting down the left wing and fired goalwards with Fernandez forced into another save.
Olympic were relentless and retook the lead in the 101st minute. Tetsunari Nishimura wriggled down the right where his cross fell to Alcorn who drilled an effort into the bottom right corner.
Nine minutes later Olympic threatened again. The hard-working Harry Callahan mazed his way through midfield running in goal but Fernandez got a strong hand to the subsequent shot.
In the 104th minute Loe almost equalised for Coniston with a shot from the right of the box rolling wide of the far post.
Yet Olympic’s 10 players remained tenacious and an attacking threat which secured them victory in the 111th minute. Alcorn gave everything to reach a ball heading towards the right touchline getting in a delivery that dropped for Paterson to bury into the bottom left corner.
A late Josh O’Hanlon chance for Coniston was the final action as Olympic made it back-to-back grand final titles in the Illawarra Premier League.
Report by Tim Gibson
Photos courtesy of Gragrapix
