Wollongong were able to brag this morning that 'New striker scores on debut'. But Stuart Young wasn't able to completely erase the sting of the 0-4 drubbing they received from Sydney Olympic last week.
In his first appearance for Wolves, Young put away a cross from Antony Surjan after a build up from Matt Horsely down the right flank. Young's equaliser came as an immediate response to Wolves conceding a soft goal in the 76th minute.
In addition to Young, Nick Theodorakopoulos made three changes to Wolves' starting line-up, predictably returning Les Pogliacomi to goalkeeping duties after early season preference Daniel 'SBS Red Faces' Beltrame let four in the previous week. Letting another five in for the Wolves' youth side this week will probably mean he's polishing boots and serving orange slices in Auckland next week.
Pogliacomi, despite several errors in judgment and some unnecessary spills, held the ball when it mattered. Young started the game aggressively, competing for through balls and tackling back. But Wolves' first flourish came from Noel Spencer whose 30 metre whack was held safely by Bouthoutsos. (Harlock had a go at doing a 'Spencer' in the second half, but it just wasn't the same.)
For Olympic, Cardozo was keen and confident almost to the point of arrogance. George Souris took the smirk off his face a couple of times, though. After only seven minutes Emerton hit a great ball toward Cardozo which Souris cut out only for it to fall to Zorbas who drove it 20 metres back to Pogliacomi. Three minutes later a missed tackle by Stanton let Olympic into Wolves' penalty area for a series of half chances the whistle for an infringement saving the 'Wall' from early embarrassment.
Subsequently Wolves defence was more solid. Cervinski, starting the match at the expense of Huxley, was strong in the air and initiated many attacks. Masi, Chipperfield and Young threatened up front but the enthusiastic midfield lacked composure.
Wolves had a glancing header fly across the face of the Olympic goal in the 11th minute, Souris and Scott Thomas got a good talking to from the ref in the 15th, Marcus Phillips worked his legs and voice box hard, Souris beat Cardozo again and hit a great ball for Masi on the break and Stanton stopped some counter attacks with classy covering tackles.
Wolves looked like they'd started to dominate midway through the first half, consistently pushing towards the Olympic goal. A terrible grubber free kick from Harlock was almost scrambled over the line.
Pogliacomi almost made his own Red Faces bid when in the 37th minute he came well off his line pursuing a wide Emerton cross only to palm it down for Baillie (I think) who shot wide of the unprotected goal.
Young and Chipperfield both shot wide early in the second half Young to the left, Chipperfield to the right. Emerton came even closer at the other end. Chipperfield went down in the Olympic penalty area when, if he'd kept on his feet, he would have had a good chance. Emerton went down after a Masi tackle in Wolves' penalty area but Mr Hugo's happy pills were still having their effect. Masi, in fact, made a couple of important defensive runs; just as Stanton and Souris broke into shooting positions at the other end. (What's this, depth and versatility!)
However it was a Masi defensive error that gave Thomas a shot at Pogliacomi who caused hearts to skip beats with one of his spills. Stanton showed Masi how defenders really give away possession by clearing the ball to Olympic players three times in succession the third time Souris was beaten and Pogliacomi had to save the day.
Tsekenis' 76th minute header came when both teams were threatening to go ahead. Wolves struck right back, Surjan's cross eluding Chipperfield but finding Young perfectly placed to slot it away.
A quick Olympic free kick caught Wolves off guard, Cervinski clearing. More pressure on Wolves as the clock ran down, Olympic missing two more chances, while Petrovski caused some irritation for Olympic's defence (IMHO he should have come on earlier; Masi’s long defensive runs were the few times he got the ball).
That's some credit to the Olympic defence. But Cardozo and Emerton caused the most palpitations.
Young demonstrated skill on the ball, in addition to hard work and a strong shot. Problems for coach Nick having to pick his side next week. Nice problems to have, one would suppose. Strikers to choose from. And Surjan seemed in fine form for his 20 minutes on the pitch. When Ceccoli returns Wolves will have some darned good players warming the bench.
** Those firecracker warnings are a joke. Penny contrasts that with law enforcement at Sydney United where a guy was thrown out for not returning the ball when it landed in the crowd.