Southern Championship Summer Cup (Empire Couriers Park, Wednesday, 15 February 2023)
Olympia Warriors 3 (Matteo Puli 29 og, Ryan Amani 31, Anthony Mamic 89)
Hobart City Beachside 1 (Nicholas Westenberg 34)
HT: 2-1 Att: 85 Ref: Brenton Kopra
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All the recent talk of doom and gloom at Olympia proved hot air last night.
The Warriors easily accounted for Hobart City Beachside 3-1 in their postponed Summer Cup opening game.
There was a positive vibe around the ground and it looked as if the players have accepted their situation, rolled up their sleeves and put their shoulders to the wheel.
In Kurt Reynolds, they have a determined, knowledgeable and committed coach who has done it all on the pitch, having played in the NSL and captained Australia at under-17 and under-20 levels. They’re pretty impressive playing credentials and Olympia’s youngster can learn a lot from him.
The backbone of last year’s NPL team is still there and that stood the Warriors in good stead last night.
Brayton Allan was imposing at the heart of the defence, while Joel Sammut led by example in midfield and Anthony Mamic always threatened up front.
This team will be competitive and the club has not imploded, so there is hope of a return to the top flight at some time soon.
Hobart City Beachside have much work to do and they showed glimpses of potential, despite being well beaten in the end.
Olympia hit the lead in the 29th minute when the visitors’ goalkeeper mishandles a cross from the left and somehow bundled the ball into his own net while under pressure from Barrett.
Two minutes later, Ryan Amani made it 2-0 with a powerful low shot from wide on the left that whistled into the far corner of the net.
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Hobart City Beachside pulled a goal back in the 34th minute. An attack down the left appeared to be halted when Olympia keeper Connor McGuinness came off his line and upended an attacker with an ill-timed challenge. One could almost see referee Mr Kopra’s brain whirring as he considered a penalty, but he was spared that decision when the loose ball ran across the penalty area and provided Nicholas Westenberg with a open goal and an easy tap-in to reduce the arrears.
The second half was a nerve-racking affair for both sides and it was not until the last minute that Anthony Mamic struck a beautiful goal from inside the box to make it 3-1 for the home side and kill off the contest.
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Olympia Warriors coach, Kurt Reynolds, said:
“Overall, I’m pretty happy with our performance tonight.
“We’ve been working pretty hard since November so I’d like to think we’re starting to create a playing style and a brand with a pretty strong but young playing group that we have, so overall, I was happy with the result and with how we played.
“We lost our shape in a couple of moments in the game - a couple of younger guys just getting to know their positions a little bit - but overall I can’t complain.
“I think it was a good sign or benchmark for us to this early stage of the season against a decent side in Beachside.”
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Hobart City Beachside coach, Enzo Botte, said:
“There’s several players that came into the team tonight, several young guys, and I think everyone acquitted themselves well.
“I was pleased by their attitude and pleased by their work ethic.
“There’s things that we’ve got to work on and so forth, but this was a nice hit-out and a nice way to start the season, the Summer Cup campaign.
“The endeavour was there and I felt that we created a number of opportunities and perhaps could have scored more goals.
“Overall, I was happy with the performance.”
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Photo: Olympia's Joel Sammut pulling the strings in midfield. [PlessPix]
8 comments:
Great start to the cup for Olympia
Looks like lots of new faces at Beachside good luck to both teams
One question Walter. If the standard of the ground was a major factor , not the only factor, in Olympia going down to Championship, will they be permitted back into the league and play games at Empire Courier Park or must they arrange to play their home games elsewhere ?
Someone really had it in for them didn't they.
Boy I hope the new team in the league is up to it or it may be egg all over someone's face I think.
I don't think anyone had it in for them. It was self inflicted. They will be a good Championship club.
Anon 6.40 pm
The decision was ridiculous, yes they weren’t in the best position as a club last season but to drop them from npl was ridiculous. It’s pretty obvious someone had it in for them, lots of other scenarios could have taken place before dropping Olympia to the championship.
Let’s stop playing the broken record and let the new year move forward
How can a ground be not up to standard for the NPL but be playable for the next tier down?
Is the next tier down considered social?
Surprisingly there are actually rules Re grounds for npl across the country and also rules for lower levels like socials is it that hard to understand the difference or is this part of the bigger picture ?
Have you seen Clare St? That will answer your question about standard of grounds in that league.
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