Thirteen minutes. That's all it took for Wollongong Olympic to stamp their authority against Bulli on Sunday and take a huge leap forward in this year's Premier League finals series.
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Harry Callahan got the ball rolling in the eighth minute with a classy goal at Ian McLennna Park, before Tynan Diaz found the back of the net five minutes later to set up a 3-0 victory in an entertaining qualifying final. Jake Trew's goal midway through the second stanza rounded out the victory.
Olympic had the lion's share of chances during the game, but couldn't add to their tally against a Bulli outfit that was sorely missing injured captain Ben McDonald.
The result sets up a mouth-watering clash next week between Olympic and rivals United - with a ticket to the grand final on offer.
"Momentum is massive in any game, so to have a positive start like that today was great. We're hungry and that's what we've been working on, and consistency wise, is something that needed to get right. And I feel like we're really building towards something," Olympic midfielder Chris Price told the Mercury.
"We've been really happy with our last month, to be honest. We had some pretty good momentum coming in and confidence is high in the group, and we back ourselves. We know we've still got a long way to go, but today was a pleasing result and we're heading in the right direction.
"Next week we'll be great, this is what you play for and hopefully there's a lot of people there. But we're under no illusions of how tough they [United] are, they finished first for a reason. But we'll go in confident and worry about ourselves, and hopefully get the result and move onto the GF."
Olympic looked the more aggressive side in the early stages, and it didn't take long for them to capitalise, with a nice pass setting up Callahan to slide the ball into the back of the net in the eighth minute.
Five minutes later, Olympic doubled their lead when Bulli goalkeeper Seiya Miyamoto was caught out of position, with Diaz sliding it past the gloveman to give his side a 2-0 advantage.
Matt Bailey's men nearly had their third goal inside 20 minutes when Tory Musumeci chipped from long range, but Miyamato tapped the ball over the bar. They nearly scored any way from the ensuing corner, with Bulli's Joel Starr desperately getting his body in the way on the goal-line.
After those early shocks, Bulli were able to settle into the contest. It led to Deakin Brownlee getting one-on-one with the Olympic gloveman in the 30th minute, but Justin Pasfield was up to the task.
Soon after, the rain began to tumble down, and the match settled into an arm-wrestle. Bulli had a couple of more attacking raids, but the score remained 2-0 at halftime.
Players were greeted by sunshine as they stepped back onto the field for the second stanza.
Olympic again looked positive during the early stages and peppered the Bulli goal mouth, however, they couldn't add to their goal tally. At the other end, Bulli were unable to find that final pass to threaten their opponent's defence.
The pressure finally told on Bulli's defence, with Jake Trew sliding the ball into the back of the net in the 77th minute. It would prove to be the last crucial moment of the match as Olympic claimed a 3-0 victory.
Despite the loss, Bulli gets a second chance and will meet the winner of Monday's elimination final between Coniston and Cringila.
"It was not a good start, conceding two goals in the first 10 minutes didn't help," Bulli coach Julio Miranda said.
"But I thought we came into the game and were very competitive. In the second half, we tried a few things, and they obviously didn't work out. You look at their squad [Olympic], you've got to envy what they've got, but I think our boys have done really well.
"Today was one of those days where things didn't work out, so we'll dust ourselves off and move onto next week. Hopefully we'll do better than we did today."
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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.
