St George FC showed they still have some fight left in staying alive in the race against relegation following a 3-0 victory over a hapless Sydney Olympic which ended the Blues hopes of playing Finals football in 2024 at Belmore Sports Ground on Saturday, August 10.
The first opportunity arrived in the 8th minute when a long ball towards goal by Michael Glassock was brought well under control by ‘keeper Mackenzie Syron under the crossbar.
A few minutes later the home side went close again with Glassock who headed powerfully just wide of the goal after receiving a precise corner from Sammy McIllhatton.
The first chance worth noting for St George FC was from their captain Troy Danaskos in the 14th minute. He created space down the left channel before firing a long-range shot just over the crossbar, even though goalkeeper Christopher Parsons always had that one in his sights.
In the 18th minute a corner from the right by Jaden Casella reached Conor Quilligan in the box who headed the ball onto the underside of the crossbar, but somehow the resulting bounce didn’t go over the goal line allowing Parsons to make a scrambling save through a dense forest of legs.
Sydney Olympic had a really great chance in the 27th minute when Teng Kuol squared the ball to Adam Parkhouse who, from close-range in the middle, flicked it towards goal only to be denied by a brilliant one-handed save from Syron who turned it over the crossbar for a corner.
In the 32rd a long ball by Glassock from the right reached Roy O’Donovan backpedalling in the far corner of the box but his header in the end was just wide of the mark.
St George FC then broke the deadlock in the 39th minute. An in-swinging corner by Casella reached Danaskos at the far post and the visiting captain simply headed it in through the tight gap near the post to give the visitors the lead.
Sydney Olympic really should have equalised just prior to the break when another long ball from Glassock which this time reached Parkhouse who fired towards goal, but he was denied by a magnificent diving save from Syron. The first half ended shortly afterwards with both sides deservedly earning a rest after an action-packed first stanza of play.
Sydney Olympic returned to field after the interval with a triple-substitution as coach Labinot Haliti tried to reshuffle his deck of cards and spruce up his side.
However, the first real opportunity of the second half was actually St George FC’s second goal in the 51st minute. A precise, long through ball from Quilligan in a counter-attacking move reached Justin Poon who beautifully finished off the move with a glancing shot from the left that beat ‘keeper Parsons.
Two minutes later Sydney Olympic came close to snatching one back when a cross from the left reached O’Donovan, but his header was just a fraction too high.
On the turn in the 72nd minute Jack Simmons tried his luck for Sydney Olympic and in the end his effort wasn’t too far over the goal.
In the 83rd minute St George FC replied when, from the by-line, a nice ball from Jesse Spang reached Chan Yelchan unmarked in the middle but he fired over the top in what perhaps wasn’t the greatest of finishes to round off such a nice move.
On the stroke of fulltime St George FC made it three to round off the scoring for the evening. Casella found the back of the net with a superb strike from just outside the box, after receiving an accurate assist from Anthony Morabito to send the visiting bench into raptures.
After the game in the St George FC dressing room the mood was jubilant and coach Steve Karavatakis was proud of his team.
“I am so excited for the boys,” he said.
“We have been working very hard in the last few weeks and the result didn’t go our way against Marconi, but it did tonight and it is starting to build now.
“Even though it is close to the end of the season we’ll happily take the crucial three points. Sydney Olympic is a very good team and if you look at them on paper I think they are one of the best teams, so we played good football to win.
“I am particularly proud of our work ethic, keeping possession, moving the ball quickly and we are playing the way we have been training which is very pleasing.”
On the other side of the fence the coach of Sydney Olympic Labinot Haliti, who rides every emotion of the game from the sidelines, was in a more sombre mood.
“Give them [St George FC] credit because they came in with a plan and they were good tonight,” he said. “We were off in the first half and we tried to change a few things, but it didn’t work. That’s the way it is sometimes.
“We weren’t ourselves tonight and we did try some things, but in the end I am disappointed for the boys after some really good work in the last nine weeks.”
Source: Football NSW.
