Wollongong Olympic have retained top spot on the Illawarra Premier League ladder after surviving a thriller against rivals United on Sunday afternoon.
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In an epic nine-goal game that no-one at a packed PCYC will forget any time soon, Olympic prevailed 5-4 to claim the bragging rights in the derby. It was a game that had a bit of everything, highlighted by hat-tricks to Olympic's Tory Musumeci and opponent Mitsuo Yamada.
Van Elia and Chris Price also scored for the winners and Sean Thomas mustered United's other goal. The result means Olympic remain in first place at the halfway mark of the IPL season, while United fall to third after Coniston secured a 1-0 win over Port Kembla on Saturday.
"I definitely think United are still the side to beat this year, they were fantastic today. They're definitely right up the top there," Olympic assistant coach Anthony Guido said.
"Today was clearly, in my opinion, the game of the season. Both teams gave it everything and it could have gone either way. But I think we had the better of the chances but at the end of the day, we deserved the win.
"There were two great hat-tricks. The United hat-trick was fantastic and our boy was fantastic up front, Tory deserved it. Goals galore, it had everything. It was a great game."
United looked the better side from the first whistle, as they tried to exploit their opponents with pace. However, it was Olympic who scored first. A nice combination of passes led to Musumeci sliding the ball into the back of the net in the sixth minute.
But United continued to work hard, with Dink Terzic and Ben Brooks getting half-opportunities. And the visitors were rewarded in the 19th minute when, from a free kick, Yamada curled the ball past gloveman Justin Pasfield. Momentum continued to mainly swing towards United and Yamada had his double 14 minutes later, sliding the ball into the back of the net on a nice low shot.
The visitors nearly extended their advantage minutes later, forcing Pasfield to make an athletic save. However, on the counter-attack, Olympic found Elia in space and he drilled the goal past a lunging Sam Nastic to draw level at 2-2.
Three minutes later, Olympic took the lead back, with Musumeci capitalising on a nice cross to complete his brace. The score remained 3-2 at half time.
United had a great chance to equalise early in the second half, but a cross to Bailey Barbarovski was just too high. But the visitors continued to press hard and were rewarded when Brooks was pushed over inside Olympic's box. From the penalty spot, Yamada made no mistake, completing his hat-trick and helping United draw level at 3-3.
The contest continued to be an arm wrestle for most of the second half. But around the 75-minute mark, Olympic managed to take the lead back when Elia put through a lovely pass for Musumeci, who chipped it over the gloveman to also complete his hat-trick. In the 80th minute, four became five for Olympic when the ball found the feet of Price from a corner, and he hammered the ball into the back of the net.
But United refused to give in. They continued to press hard, leading to Thomas scoring from outside the box one minute later to peg the deficit back to 5-4.
Thomas appeared to have mustered a late equaliser, but the referee awarded a free kick to Olympic. It would prove to be the last key chance of the day as the hosts held on to win.
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
