Olympic coach George Antoniou felt his team let slip an opportunity to go top of the Illawarra Premier League after their 1-1 draw with Albion Park White Eagles at PCYC on Saturday afternoon.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With Bulli drawing 0-0 with Cringila Lions at Balls Paddock, both Park and Olympic could have jumped to the top of the competition with a win on the weekend.
Olympic pegged back an early goal to be get back on level terms with Park at half time, but Antoniou believes his men had enough opportunities in the second half to go on with the job. Park’s Hikaru Kawasakiya opened the scoring for the White Eagles 12 minutes into the match before Shun Tokuno squared the ledger a minute before half time.
The hosts peppered Park’s defence in the second half and even had the numbers advantage when Chris Fuentes Ramirez was handed his marching orders in the final minutes. But to Antoniou’s dismay, his men couldn’t extend their winning run to four games.
"It was a bit of a battle but we probably two points lost in the end," Antoniou said.
"In the second half I thought we had enough chances to win. I thought they had the better of the first half but in the second we should have done better with our chances.”
Kawasakiya had rewarded Park’s early pressure with a well taken goal from the edge of the box early in the piece.
The visitors, who remain the competition’s only unbeaten side, pushed for a second inside the opening half an hour. But they went into the sheds at 1-1 when Tokuno scored from close range.
The chances fell at regular intervals for Olympic after the break. They had seven minutes to break the deadlock when Fuentes-Ramirez was sent off, but couldn’t crack a resolute Park defence.
The point ensured Olympic remain on level terms with Bulli at the top of the ladder, with the White Eagles a point back.
"I think we have started the season fairly solid," Antoniou said. "We still have a couple of players to come back, which will be a real positive for us. Obviously a few less injuries in the second half of the season will do us good but at the end of the day we have still be solid."
Olympic back up against Cringila in the Bampton Cup on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Woonona scored a valuable 2-0 win over Corrimal and Tarrawanna beat Picton 2-0. Wollongong United defeated South Coast 5-1 and Port Kembla downed Fernhill 3-0.
Ladder: Bulli 19, Wollongong Olympic 19, Albion Park 18, Wollongong United 16, Corrimal 13, Port Kembla 13, Tarrawanna 13, Fernhill 12, Cringila 10, Woonona 3, Picton 3, SCU 0.
