This wasn't quite the flogging it seems - though, apart from 20 minutes of the first half, Olympic dominated.
After scoring the first goal against the run of play Wollongong put Olympic on the back foot for a spell. But the visitors couldn't sustain the pressure and, as coach Peter Papanikitas told his players at half time, all they had to do was keep working away at it and the win was inevitable.
Wolves' coach John Turner said his side would continue to struggle with such a small squad, half of which was injured.
Two of Olympic's five goals were thanks to good fortune. Two were scored when Wolves were beaten, desperate and defenceless. One was a beauty.
Troy Halpin was commanding. Supposedly fringe players Jim Nikas and Zenon Caravella were outstanding.
Olympic had the first decent attack. Halpin played wide to Predrag Bojic who crossed to Pablo Cardozo putting Danial Cummins under pressure at the far post. Olympic won a corner at which Ben Blake made his presence felt and forced an Olympic header wide of goal.
Cummins fouled Hiroyuki Ishida making a good run down the left.
Nahuel Arrarte chasing a half chance fell over Nikas in the Olympic goal box and looked for a penalty.
Bojic on a good break for Olympic made one bad touch and ruined his run into the Wollongong penalty area.
Dustin Wells on a Wollongong break wasted possession with a nothing shot wide of goal.
In the eleventh minute Iain Fyfe hit a nice ball up the line for Ishida who ran into the box and shot wildly high.
Two minutes later Ante Juric lobbed a ball through to Fyfe who beat Blake and crossed to Cardozo who volleyed high.
Wells again stuffed up a Wollongong move with poor control but recovered enough to fire off a woeful shot which nevertheless caught a deflection and won Wolves a corner. From the corner George Souris missed a clearance and the ball eventually found its way out to Arrarte on the left. Arrarte's cross was centimetre perfect, dropping sweetly for Chimaobi Nwaogazi to head firmly past Brett Hughes.
Somehow Wolves had scored a pretty good goal. The travelling fans were noisily jubilant.
And a minute later Wolves almost had a second. A Wells cross from the left was half a second too early to rendezvous with Nwaogazi's flying head. Juric, perhaps a bit steamy that Nwaogazi had been finding space, seriously set about the task of making the rest of the Nigerian's night joyless. Juric was very good fending away Nwaogazi as he chased a through ball.
Halpin hit an Olympic free kick from 25 metres straight to Andrew Crews and received quite a bit of ironic clapping from the Olympic supporters.
Stuart Young, who seemed in good touch despite being one of those on the injury list, backheeled to Arrarte near the Olympic goal box. Arrarte shot far wide of goal.
In the 23rd minute Wells pulled a ball back from the line for Young who knew he wasted a good chance high and wide to the left of goal.
Apart from the inability to shoot on target, Wolves looked to be on top. First-time passes were working well.
In the 25th minute a long Michael Hawrysiuk throw into the penalty area went up in the air bothering Hughes three times before referee Craig Zetter spotted an infringement.
Young did some more pretty precision passing getting players into the Olympic penalty area; this time to Hawrysiuk who won a corner.
Olympic fans called out for their players to slow things down.
Then their boys had a good spell of their own, with nearly every player getting a touch before Cardozo was robbed in front of the Wollongong goal.
Just when Olympic started to look good again Paul Kohler and Bojic lost possession deep in their own half with an unforced error. But soon Olympic again made time to dwell on the ball.
Nikas crossed and Blake headed clear. Then Caravella lobbed into the box and Blake headed clear. Finally Caravella hit a soft shot in to Crews.
To their credit, Wolves weren't panicking in defence.
At the other end, Wollongong seemed to benefit from Nikas falling but couldn't get a shot away.
In the 34th minute Caravella played to Bojic who ran and ran and ran toward goal and finally sprayed a shot so wide the whole upper stand of Olympic supporters burst into laughter.
Juric was again good holding out Nwaogazi. And Caravella put in a good tackle on Shane Lyons.
Caravella then nearly played Ishida into the box with a long, penetrating pass Š but Crews was awake to it.
Another long Nikas cross was cleared by Blake.
Cardozo pushed the ball leftward to Caravella who passed to Nikas who hit a soft shot to Crews.
In the 43rd minute Caravella, played into the right side of the box by Halpin, beat Blake and hit an awkward shot past Crews who had come off his line to support Blake. It was clumsiness all round, but the shot was good enough to find the inside of the left upright and give Olympic an equaliser just before half time.
Blake and Young combined to get Arrarte into the Olympic penalty area and Arrarte actually got a shot on target - though it was a soft one to Hughes.
Fyfe had done okay in the first half but his half time replacement by George Goutzioulis certainly firmed up the Olympic midfield. Steve DeGiovianniello's appearance in place of Hawrysiuk shortly after half time wasn't enough to counter Olympic's greater strength and determination.
Nikas got in behind DeGiovianniello and crossed. Ishida met the ball on the run and sent it left of goal.
DeGiovianniello showed some commitment at least, fighting to keep possession for Wollongong on the edge of the Olympic penalty area.
Then DeGiovianniello fouled Nikas in the left corner outside Wollongong's penalty area. Halpin took the kick and got the ball back. Crews touched the ball on for an Olympic corner which was won by Bojic and punched out by Crews.
It was clear but Adam Hughes pushed Halpin. Cardozo had the free kick which was fended wide by Crews but two Olympic players were first to pounce. On the cross from the left Goutzioulis almost had a chance but the ball rebounded to Juric and Cardozo who scored off the back of Crews.
Then Cardozo found himself in space with a good turn, ran to goal, shot and won a corner.
A cross from Caravella on the line to the right of goal was headed over by Bojic.
Meanwhile, Olympic's fair-weather fans had certainly found their voices. They were being entertained.
Ishida on a break down the left turned Blake who fouled Ishida and copped a yellow card. And 18 minutes into the second half Nikas had a crack at the free kick. Twenty-something metres out. Into the top right corner of goal. It was terrific. A stunner.
A minute later Ishida broke down the right, turned the defender and his left-foot shot was saved by Crews. Olympic took the corner which Blake headed away for another Olympic corner. Halpin took that one and Goutzioulis headed wide.
Blake, who had been persisting with a dead left shoulder and blurred vision, was finally replaced by John Majurovski. This added some real spark to Wolves' front line. But at the back Š ?
Soon after he'd run onto the pitch Wolves had a chance to counter attack and Majurovski brought down a ball with his chest and shot wide to the right of goal.
Nevertheless, my notes here say: "Olympic pissing all over Wolves now."
In the 72nd minute Goutzioulis hit a great shot from nearly 40 metres just over the crossbar.
But three minutes later Majurovski caught the Olympic defence napping. He took an easy goal on a pass from the right of the box. In fact he took it so casually it seemed destined to miss.
Yet Wolves were back in the game. And just to prove it they had another shot from the left of the penalty area just wide to the right of goal.
Ishida got around Bobby Dragas and tried to cross but the ball was cleared by Hughes.
Then there was something of a melee and Goutzioulis copped his yellow card, and Wells had a shot and got a corner.
Hughes crossed from the left to DeGiovianniello who shot first time wide to the right.
Hughes, clearly still thinking there was something to fight for, beat Ishida and Kohler coming into the right side of the Olympic penalty area but Juric cleaned him up.
In the 89th minute Goutzioulis signalled it was time for Hughes and anyone else to surrender, striking strongly into the back of the net as Olympic countered. This was a deserved goal for the contribution Goutzioulis had made to the game since coming on.
Bojic stopped a Young attack and Wolves won a couple of corners.
Lyons blocked a Caravella shot but the ball came back across the area to Cardozo who had plenty of space on the left to score his second and Olympic's fifth goal.
Mercy came for Wolves with the final whistle - even if it disappointed the bloodthirsty Olympic fans calling out for "One more".
Papanikitas thought his side started well for the first 20 minutes but lost some composure, particularly with the goal against the run of play. He said his side played well in the second half and deserved to win quite comfortably.
Turner said the goal before half time hurt Wolves badly. He said his boys had to learn to kill a game off. Instead of going in one-nil up at half time they had conceded a goal and changed the situation for the second half.
"We had bodies broken up everywhere in the dressing room at half time. I think I could have replaced about seven players. They were all gone. They were gone prior to today Š I had no other players to bring up Š I'm afraid their bodies are wearing out."
Papanikitas said he took Fyfe off to create more movement and to be more creative. He said Fyfe was playing midfield to provide strength in the air and to compensate for smaller players in the team.
Turner said Olympic technically had a far better squad than Wollongong and he was surprised how low they were on the table. Papanikitas agreed with Turner, saying they had played well in many of their games but had not scored at vital times to win the points.
Papanikitas said the turnaround after half time wasn't surprising: apart from the two goals Hughes didn't have to make a save. "The boys knew we had enough possession. It was just a matter of time, hold the ball for a little while and the goals would come." At half time his instruction to his players was just to be patient. "Continue to play and go forward more often in numbers."
While both teams are still within striking distance of the last final six spot, Turner thought neither team would make it. "I think we'll do it tough. We need ten points with Parramatta Power and Perth Glory next up, then Adelaide Š It's not that I don't think my team is good enough to get to the top six, but with the size of the squad and the injuries we have Š we'll have even fewer players available next week."
Papanikitas disagreed. "We have Auckland next week, Newcastle and Marconi. Those teams are beatable, we've beaten them before. We know what we are capable of doing and apart from a couple of games this season we haven't been outplayed by many teams at all."
He said, "If we can get two or three in a row the whole thing changes Š I believe in the team and the boys do believe they can make it. As John said, where we are on the table means nothing."