Olympic Showcase Their Class On A Tough Saturday Night For Sharks
It was a tough Saturday night for us as Sydney Olympic showcased their class in the Match of the Round, cruising to a 5-1 victory at Valentine Sports Park.
The match kicked off with intensity, as Olympic were awarded a penalty inside the first 40 seconds when Cyrus Dehmie was brought down in the box. Alou Kuol's initial strike was saved by our keeper, Danijel Nizic, but the Olympic attacker reacted quickest to slot the ball home on the rebound.
Our Goalscorer Ikko Arimoto
Soon after, Olympic had a second goal ruled out for offside, but they continued to apply pressure. Just 10 minutes in, Dehmie doubled their lead after stealing the ball and charging half the length of the pitch before cutting inside to fire home a brilliant left-footed strike.
We didn’t back down. Peter Grozos had a great chance to respond but blasted wide of the woodwork after beating Olympic’s keeper, Jack Gibson. We kept pressing and created a series of corners, but Olympic managed to scramble clear.
Our goal came in the 25th minute when Ikko Arimoto found the back of the net with a powerful left-foot shot to halve the deficit. However, our joy was short-lived as Dehmie added his second shortly after, tapping in from a low cross by Jack Armson. Before we had time to regroup, it was 4-1 as Dylan Ruiz-Diaz capitalised on more great work down the right wing from Olympic.
It was clear that Olympic were making the most of every opportunity, while our defence struggled to keep up. Jordan Roberts had a chance to pull one back for us, but his volley went wide as we were forced to push forward.
Despite the challenging circumstances, we kept our heads up, though it was evident we had a steep hill to climb. Olympic, sensing the chance to counter-attack, exploited the space left at the back, while we remained determined to fight on.
In the second half, Olympic continued to dominate, and the match took another turn when Kotaro Katsuta was shown a straight red card in the 54th minute, leaving us with 10 men. Nizic made another heroic save to deny Ruiz-Diaz a second goal, but it was becoming a case of damage limitation for us. With the height disadvantage up front, most of the balls into the box were comfortably dealt with by Olympic.
The fifth goal came when Ruiz-Diaz and Sam McIllhatton combined with a clever pass that set Ruiz-Diaz up for a powerful volley into the net. Olympic’s tactics, man advantage, and determination were clear as they continued to outclass us.
Despite the heavy scoreline, there were moments of fight from us. Substitute Bailey Callaghan came close to scoring with a shot that hit the upright, and Nizic bravely denied Ruiz-Diaz a hat-trick, with both players requiring treatment after a collision.
It was one-way traffic for much of the game, with Olympic pressing, we defended, and Nizic showed great resilience despite conceding five goals. A penalty, a red card, a goalkeeper substitution, and six goals made for a memorable night, but we will look to bounce back and learn from this tough experience.