They may have been up against a highly fancied opponent, but it took Wollongong Olympic just 45 minutes to make their mark on this year's Premier League.
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John Martinoski, Matthew Floro and Yu Hasegawa all found the back of the net as their side opened up a 3-0 lead by half time on Saturday against Wollongong United.
United found their rhythm in the second half, with Danny Lazarevski mustering a reply in the 68th minute, but Olympic was able to push on to record a 3-1 victory at Macedonia Park.
The result was a warning shot fired to their IPL rivals, especially after United claimed last week's Frat Cup.
Coach George Antoniou said he was delighted with Olympic's effort.
"It was a good performance first up, getting the three points is obviously important. So we're very happy," Antoniou said.
"It's always difficult to play against them [United], especially away from home. We knew we had to come out and try get some goals early, and lucky for us it happened.
"I just think, as a unit, the whole team works very well defensively and we had to in the last 30 minutes of the game because they really threw everything at us. I was really proud of the way all the boys defended. It was a really good team performance after a very lacklustre pre season.
"It was all about us, making sure we did what we do right. United is obviously a strong team but we just concentrated on what we wanted to do."
Olympic will look to build on that opening win when they face South Coast United next Saturday at PCYC.
Consistency will be the key for Antoniou, who was pleased with the efforts of his youth against United.
"The young boys are coming up strongly now, which we're really proud of, and the experienced boys are starting to step up also," the coach said.
"It's a good result to get the three points early but, even though it's a shortened season, there's still plenty of games to go. There's plenty of good teams and I'm sure United will be back at some stage, so there's still a long way to go."
Round one of the IPL proved to be a high-scoring affair, with nearly 30 goals scored across the six games.
The season began with Cringila and Albion Park White Eagles playing out a 3-all draw on Friday night.
Bulli sealed a 2-1 win over Woonona, Bellambi thrashed Port Kembla 5-1 and Coniston came back from two goals down to win 4-3 on Saturday evening.
However, the opening round is yet to be capped off. Sunday's game between Tarrawanna and Corrimal was called off early, with the score at 1-all at half time, due to poor weather conditions. It's understood the game will be completed at a later date.