Clarence Zebras go down to Warriors

Photo:  Lachlan O'Connor appears to be an excellent signing by Olympia Warriors [PlessPix]

(NPL Summer Cup, KGV Park, Saturday, 29 February 2020)

Clarence Zebras 1 (Luke Huigsloot 27)

Olympia Warriors 3 (Jack Ryan 59 pen, 69, Callum Brown 76)

HT:  1-0   Att:  400   Ref:  T Peart

Clarence Zebras:  Reid  -  Dillon, Parant, Ahn, Walsh  -  Hills, Hey, Burt  -  Pace, Huigsloot, Cook  (Subs:  McKeown, Snell, Stankovich, Tuyushime)

Olympia Warriors:  Smith  -  Gorrie, Hill, Vandermey, O’Connor  -  Juma, Mearns, Kobayashi, Khasif  -  Ryan, N’Koso  (Subs:  C Brown, D Brown, Mwarabu, Randall, Wadawu)

Photo:  Olympia's Lachlan O'Connor puts the pressure on Clarence Zebras' Luke Huigsloot [PlessPix]

Olympia’s new left-back, Lachlan O’Connor, who has come from New South Wales, made am impressive debut.  He reads the game well, uses both feet, and is fast and technically good.  He should be a more than useful signing.

Their new American goalkeeper, Davis Smith, had a torrid debut.  He was almost caught out a couple of times trying to play with his feet, and his handling was not the best.  His distribution was haphazard at times.

The first half of this game was an even affair until Luke Huigsloot broke the deadlock by nodding home a cross to give Clarence Zebras the lead.

Photo:  Olympia's excellent Nick Mearns weaves his way through the pack [PlessPix]

Olympia had few chances and Jack Ryan was being aggressively handled by Quentin Parant.

Ryan relishes the physical aspects of the game, however, and it was he who drew Olympia level from the penalty spot in the 59^th minute after Byungtae Ahn had conceded the spot-kick for a foul on Declan Brown.

Ryan gave Olympia the lead 10 minutes later with a powerful low finish from 20 metres.

Callum Brown was left unmarked at the far post and fired into an empty net in the 76^th minute to make it 3-1 for the Warriors.

Photo:  Jayden Hey sets himself for a header.  He was later substituted after suffering suspected concussion. [PlessPix]

Zebras were not done, however, and Huigsloot went awfully close with a header, while Adam McKeown sent a powerful shot from the left just wide of the far right-hand post.

Nathan Reid produced a superb save from Declan Brown in stoppage time to keep the score at 3-1 and assure the Warriors of a place in the Summer Cup Final.

Photo:  Nick Mearns eludes Luke Huigsloot.  Mearns was forced off after a head clash, while the referee urged the Zebras bench to have a look at Huigsloot because he thought he was also concussed. [PlessPix]