Hopes were set high for this contest between last year's Grand Finalists Sydney Olympic and Perth Glory, but not even the most opimistic football fan could have imagined a match as thrilling as the one on offer at Toyota Park tonight.
In a game that could have gone either way, Sydney Olympic repeated their Grand Final triumph to defeat the Glory by 2-1.
With Olympic playing what was effectively a 3-4-3 formation with Troy Halpin and Tom Pondeljak taking the central midfield positions, it was clear that Olympic coach Gary Phillips was of the mind that his team's best chance of victory lay in relentless attack. Halpin was immediately back in the groove, his vision, skill and delicate touch adding so much flair to the champions, creating otherwise unimagined opportunities for wide players Joel Porter, Greg Owens and Hiroyuki Ishida. An injury free Troy Halpin who contributes as he did tonight will go a long way to determining Olympic's fortunes this season.
However, the Glory were not overly bothered by the greater flair of their opponents, and were happy to wait to exploit Olympic's vulnerability in the moments after losing possession with their characteristic directness on goal.
Perth midfielders Andre Gumprecht and Edgar in particular were adept at supplying strikers Damian Mori and Nick Mrdja with the sort of service that ought to have yielded greater dividends. Fortunately for the home side, Olympic captain Ante Juric was superb in the centre of defence, once forcing a rampaging Mori into a harmless position wide of the goal, and then stopping another dangerous Mori run with a crucial tackle. Clint Bolton in the Olympic goal twice saved at the feet of Damian Mori to keep his goal intact, and Perth were perhaps unlucky not to go into the break with the advantage.
The second half was entirely a different matter, with Olympic stepping up a gear, determined not to allow Perth to wrest from them the mantle of the competition's best team. On the hour, Perth's nemesis Ante Milicic gave his side the lead. Milicic fired home with an emphatic strike from 18 yards after somehow finding a way through the heart of the Perth defence with an exquisite interchange of short passes with Halpin. With the momentum of the game well and truly with Olympic, keeper Clint Bolton decided upon a rather inopportune time for a reprise of his Bruce Grobbelaar impersonation. After Bolton had moved off his line to completely misjudge long floating cross from a set piece, Glory midfielder Brad Hassell directed his uncontested header into an empty net to restore parity just five minutes later.
Just as it appeared that a gallant draw was the most likely outcome, subsitute Jeremy Harris delighted the home fans with a quality winner four minutes from time. Creatively using his body hold off a defender and release Pondeljak on the edge of the box, Harris found space to receive the pass from Pondeljak and then smash his shot into the roof of the net from 15 yards.
That the large and boisterous Olympic crowd took the time to applaud the Perth Glory as they departed the pitch summed up the gratitude of all who were fortunate to have experienced such a magnificent contest and such marvellous football.