HARD DAY AT THE OFFICE FOR THE WOLVES

                             2025 NSW NPL MENS 1 ROUND  18

                  WOLLONGONG WOLVES v SYDNEY OLYMPIC

                   HARD DAY AT THE OFFICE FOR THE WOLVES

 

First, best wishes to Darcy Madden as he recovers from his terrible injury in the previous match. The substitute seat at the WIN Stadium had his number 3 shirt on it which was a nice touch, and I believe he watched the game at home following his operations. May your recuperation be all that you want.

 

This Round 18 fixture was certainly a hard day at the office for the Wollongong Wolves as the team were defeated 2-0 by Sydney Olympic with relatively easy second half goals.

 

The home team began the match by kicking off and facing the southern end of the ground. Before too long had elapsed, Harrison Buesnell tackled Adam Parkhouse as Olympic plied the ball forward.

 

The initial strike arrived one minute after half time to break the tie.  Cyrus Dehmie scored a left footed effort after an earlier Olympic effort by Jack Armson struck the post and rebounded, with Dehmie being the recipient of the ball. 

 

The second goal emanated in the sixty-fourth minute as Dylan Ruiz-Diaz threaded the ball under the Wolves custodian, Daniel Solsky into the goal. Prior, Dehmie had provided the pass to send Ruiz-Diaz on his way. 

 

From the outset, Sydney Olympic wasted little time as in the second minute of proceedings, Dehmie was through on goal with it at his mercy, only for his effort to be pushed wide. A couple of minutes later, Olympics’ Seth Clark, who was Instrumental in the midfield of keeping Olympic ticking over throughout the match, dispatched a shot from outside the penalty area, which the Solsky grasped to deny.

 

The Wolves went close a minute or so past the half hour mark as Nicholas Olsen, who provided a thorn in the Olympic side constantly, took a free kick from outside the penalty arc. It zoomed towards the. goal. It looked home and hosed, only for the fingertips of custodian Jack Gibson, thwarting this good chance. Prior, Dylan Ryan nearly scored with his header going wide and later another of his headers was taken by Gibson. A Marcus Beattie shot was blocked and a follow-up overhead kick from Raphael Le’Ai travelled high.  Damon Gray ‘s effort was also blocked at the point of contact. These were all in vain.

 

After a corner kick following Olsen’s free kick earlier, two snapshots were hit by the Wolves in rapid succession but somehow would not go into the goal.

 

As the half wound down, a Le’Ai enterprising run set Olsen, from the right, moving inward. He shot with the outside of his left foot. It was close but not ultimately did not bring any joy.

 

At half time, being 0-0, there was much on the line. However, a minute after the resumption of play, the Wolves were behind and now had to catch up. 

 

A minute later, the Wolves looked to restore parity. Olsen was impeded as he jinked his way forward. Ziggy Gordon headed out a Ryan cross. Banri Kanaizumi dispossessed Clark as he made a menacing move.  Dehmie eluded defenders before getting his effort away.  He was looking to achieve a brace, but Solsky held safely.

 

An Olympic corner kick by Armson went across the face of goal with no-one attacking the ball before Olympic added their second goal. The Wolves were now down by two and time was of the essence. 

 

On seventy-two minutes, Olsen moved to ball to Le’Ai and his short was blocked. A little later, Olsen’s corner kick saw Kanaizumi rising to power his header narrowly wide.

 

As the Wolves attacked a couple of times the offside flag was raised, and this did not help matters. Also, some of the Wolves players were pushed off the ball on occasions to lose possession and momentum. 

 

The Wolves pressed the point in the final ten minutes with five minutes extra time added.  A James Anagnostopoulos hit a screamer that hit one post then the other post before Gibson smothered the ball. An overhead kick by Ryan was deemed high feet and he was penalised. 

 

Olympic had won the spoils and did what was required to achieve their seventh victory, while the Wolves now, have more defeats than wins, and need to recover to get that winning feeling. After this match, the Wolves are now in eleventh position, while Sydney Olympic has improved to ninth.

 

Captain Banri Kanaizumi – ‘it was very disappointing. We much needed the three points to improve on the table. We played very well but we are missing something. We lifted in the last five minutes, and we should have scored a couple of goals but playing catch-up football is hard.. It is what it is, and we move onto the next one.’

 

Dylan Ryan – ‘it was good getting the nose protection off.  Tonight was disappointing.    We are playing good football but need to keep playing our style and not freak out when things go bad. On the perceived. Intensity late in the match?  that’s also a factor that in the last ten minutes other teams get tired..  We work very hard on our fitness during the week with the support of the Uni. They put a lot of effort in us to stay fit. I don’t thing it is us ramping up towards the end, it is us playing the way we are, and they can’t keep up. In the overhead kick late, I nearly took his head, but I pulled my foot away. It was very close. (JA shot that hit both posts). We need to turn it around as it can become a habit with the way we have going. We have been unfortunate with injuries. We have not had a full first squad since Round 3. We are just over halfway, and we will keep going.  

 

MATCH STATISTICS 

 

WOLLONGONG WOLVES F.C………………..0

 

SYDNEY OLYMPIC…………..………,,,,……2 

Cyrus Dehmie 46’ Dylan Ruiz-Diaz 64

 

@ WIN Stadium, Wollongong.

SATURDAY 7th JUNE 2025 

7.00 p.m. kick off 

 

WOLLONGONG WOLVES 

Coach: Warren Grieve

3. Daniel Solsky GK 2. Harrison Buesnel 4. Dylan Ryan, 5. Banri Kanaizumi, 8. Sebastian Duarte (7.  Woon Sub Sim 71’) 9. Damon Gray. (10. Liam Ball 71’) 17. Marcus Beattie 21. Nicholas Olsen, 29. Ben Giason   25. Alex Masciovecchio 77. Raphael Le’ai (6. James Anagnostopoulos 78’)  

Substitutes Not Used:  1. Oliver Yates 11. Lucas Trajcevski 15. Dax Kelly 88’)

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

 

SYDNEY OLYMPIC

Coach: Labinot Latifi

1.Jack Gibson, 5. Ziggy Gordon, 7. Michael Vakis (16. Bailey Callghan 68’), 9. Cyrus Dehmie, 10. Jack Armson, 11. Adam Parkhouse (19. Gianni Di Pizio 78’), 12. Zac Zoricich, 14. Seth Clark (22. Dylan Ruiz-Diaz 73’), 17. Joshua Hong, 18. Teng Kuol (6. Thomas Whiffen 78’), 28. Doni Grdic

Subs not used:13. Monty Partington, 6. Thomas Whiffen, 19. Gianni Di Pizio

Yellow Cards: Ziggy Gordon 33’, Cyrus Dehmie 61’

Red Cards: nil

 

Referee: Matt Staples

Assistant Referees: Haydyn Kaye and Ethan Zvargulis

Fourth Official: Harriet Gee 

 

By Malcolm Rowney