FRATERNITY CUP
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Wollongong Olympic continued their dominant start to the Fraternity Cup with a 4-1 win over Premier League newcomers Bellambi yesterday.
After a pedestrian first half, Wayne Farnsworth's men turned it up a notch in the second stanza, scoring four goals after the interval.
Julian Minutillo was the star of the show, scoring twice, while Haydyn Lloyd and Kyle Hazebroek chipped in to round out the scoresheet.
The victory maintained their unbeaten start to the Cup and consigned the Rosellas to their first loss in the competition.
"It was a test of our character but at the end of the day, our character shone through," Olympic coach Farnsworth said.
"There was a couple of nice goals. There is no substitute for class so [we are] obviously happy to get the result."
Lloyd netted the pick of the goals with less than 10 minutes remaining, launching a right foot shot off the crossbar and in from 35 yards.
His strike put the icing on the cake as Olympic overcame an early deficit to stroll home with the a comfortable win.
Earlier, Nick Hardy had the Rosellas in dreamland after he made the most of strong lead-up work from Nathan Sutcliffe to give his side a 1-0 lead.
But Bellambi were quickly brought back down to earth as Hazebroek, Minutillo and Lloyd clinically took chances to secure the 4-1 result.
"First half, we were brilliant. Structure was good but then we made a couple of changes and we got ourselves in a bit of trouble," Bellambi coach Greg Smart said.
"We pushed too many numbers forward and we got punished through good goals.
"We will learn from that, it is all about our structure.
"Second half, as guys got a little bit tired, we lost our way."
Smart wasn't the only gaffer searching for more consistency, with his opposite Farnsworth demanding improvement from his troops.
"Our goal is not concede goals," Farnsworth said.
"It happened again today and it happened last week.
"Even a goal a game you can't afford to concede.
"If we can get that out of our game, we will go a long way in the competition."
In other matches, Tarrawanna easily took care of Fernhill 4-0 while Wollongong United defeated Woonona 1-0.
In the District League Fraternity Cup final, Berkeley Sports defeated Shell Cove 6-3 in a thrilling encounter.
Robert Cull was the standout performer for Sports, claiming the Man of the Match.
South Coast versus Bulli, Port Kembla against Cringila and the Albion Park White Eagles - Dapto Dandaloo Fury clashes were all postponed due to weather.