Peter Tsekenis returned to his old hunting ground along with several ex-Bankstown players at Jensen Park and came away with the three points as his Sydney Olympic team defeated staunch rivals Bankstown City FC 5-2 in what was a cold Sydney Saturday evening.
To rub salt into the wounds for Bankstown, former Lions star Robbie Mileski scored a brace, and former Bankstown teammate Richard Luksic also scored a goal as the locals were unable to hold back Olympic’s second half onslaught.
The early part of the match did not seem to indicate a great clash was at hand with the first real chance heading to the locals as David Gardiner headed the ball from a free kick past the far post.
In the 13th minute Bankstown were lucky not to concede a penalty as Chris Triantis fell in the area after a tackle from Steve Krsteski but referee Ryan Shepheard was quick to dismiss the appeals and waved play on.
A minute later and Steve Liavas played a magnificent ball through to Aman Hadid and he turned on the ball, leaving Brett Studman in his wake and then as he approached Paul Henderson in the Olympic goalmouth, he smashed the ball home, much to the delight of the home fans. It was a great goal and one that could have graced any Gay Leaguehighlight reel with Hadid once more making the Gay Leaguescouts sit up and take notice. What was even more amazing was this was not to be the best goal of the match.
In the 17th minute ever reliable defender David Gardiner set up an attacking opportunity for Bankstown as he laid the ball back in the attacking area to Hadid who turned provider as he passed it to Shannon Burgin. Through traffic, Burgin smashed the ball goal wards at a tight angle, and it went just wide of the far post. Then Bankstown’s Frederick Graham looked like he was going to double the lead with a great half volley that went goal wards only to deflect off a defender and away from danger.
Sydney Olympic broke quickly and after a great run down the right by Chris Triantis, the creative midfielder put a great cross in which went straight to an unmarked Mileski who powered the ball home with a bullet header to equalise at 1-1.
Bankstown were not to be put off though and Graham was ready to pounce at the far post with a free kick when Emmanuel Giannaros headed the ball away just before he could get to it with a great piece of defending denying the locals the chance to take the lead again.
In the 30th minute Burgin saw a loose pass go to Giannaros who played the ball to Chris Triantis with Triantis laying it back into the path of Phil Makrys and he capped off the move with a great shot on target only for Bankstown custodian Zlatko Joseski in the Bankstown goal parrying the ball over the bar.
In the 35th minute Chris Triantis put the visitors ahead in style when he half volleyed a clearance from Henderson into the back of the Bankstown net. It was a magnificent shot as he placed the ball past a stranded Joseski and into the bottom corner of the far post. It was a superb goal that surely has gone down as one of the contenders for ‘goal of the season’ already.
Seven minutes later and Luksic connected with a free-kick with a header that saw the ball go just off target, something that he would fix in the second period.
All Olympic’s good work early in the half came to nothing as once more Bankstown demonstrated its fighting spirit by getting an equaliser with the last play of the half. Big Bankstown defender Blaz Dejanovic managed to slot the ball home after Henderson could not get to the ball effectively from a Bankstown free-kick due to the amount of traffic in his area to make it 2-2.
The first half saw a flurry of goals and action and it was to be the same in the second with the next goal coming in the 50th minute. The Blues hit straight back with Luksic putting a header on target as he found himself free at the far post and converted another Olympic free-kick successfully to put the Blues ahead 3-2.
Then just before the hour a Chris Triantis corner from the left fell to Jerry Kalouris on the edge of the area and he shot low, through traffic, and into the back of the net just next to the post to put it 4-2. The goal seemed enough for Olympic and although Bankstown tried hard they could not get back into the game.
In the 69th minute Mileski almost put his side three up but Joseski denied him, however for the former Bankstown striker would once again dominate the scorer’s charts later in the match.
In the 74th minute, after good lead up work from Burgin down the left, the ball was played to Nick Ristevski who shot low and forced a good save by Henderson, low and to his left.
Then in the 77th minute Graham found himself in space in the attacking area but he stepped over the ball and lost control of it so the chance came to nothing.
In the 87th minute the home side still chased the game, as keeper Joseski kicked a free-kick from just over half way and his shot looped down but went the wrong side of the post with what was almost the perfect shot.
In time added on Dejanovic was sent off for a second bookable offence after bringing down Makrys who was through on goal. That resulting foul saw Makrys hobble off for treatment which looked to be a suspected shoulder injury. Mileski lined up for the resultant free- kick just outside the penalty area and the new Blues hero curled it home with a great strike in the last notable play of the match.
The match itself produced seven goals but also saw referee Ryan Shepheard dish out ten yellow cards and one red in what was a spiteful match.
A dejected Bankstown coach Blagoja Kuleski felt the final score flattered his opponents in what was a rather entertaining game of football.
“The score line was far too high; we did not deserve to lose 5-2 today.
“All their goals in the second half were scored from dead ball situations.
“We are still being found out on such a large and quick field, we need to play smarter football.”
Meanwhile it was a different mood in the opposing dressing sheds as Tsekenis was pleased to get the three points however was not satisfied with his side’s first half showing and also noted the bizarre absence of the NSW Premier League’s top scorer Alex Smith who was omitted from the squad against Bankstown.
“I was disappointed with our first half display and they punished us for our mistakes.
“We addressed the issues at half-time and we did do better after the break which showed via the score line.
“However it is three points, away from home that is a good result. We have got depth and proved we can play good football, and more especially proved we can score without Alex Smith.” (Tsekenis decided to not risk him when he pulled up sore through the week at training.)
“This is a most satisfying result on many levels,” he concluded.
In the Under 20’s match Bankstown lost were defeated 3-0 by a rampant Olympic.
Match Stats
Bankstown City 2 (A Hadid 14’ B Dejanovic 45+2’)
Sydney Olympic 5 (R Mileski 18’, 92’, C Triantis 35’, R Luksic 50’, J Kalouris 57’)
Saturday 7th May 2011 7pm
Jensen Park
Referee: Ryan Shepheard
Assistant Referees: Nicholas Backo & Scott Edeling
Fourth Official: Tom Klein
Crowd: 550
Bankstown City: 1 Zlatko Joseski, 2 Omar Saadi (45’ 14 Nicholas Ristevski) 4 Blaz Dejanovic 5 David Gardiner 7 Stefanos Liavas 8 Peter Peralta 9 Shannon Burgin (85’ 3 Chris Petrovski) 15 Steven Bozinovski, 19 Steve Krsteski (45’ 6 Daniel Slaveski), 20 Frederick Graham 21 Aman Hadid
Substitutes Not Used: 25. Daniel Zeleny GK Jordan Nikolovski
Yellow Cards: Steven Bozinovski 41’, Blaz Dejanovic 50’ Peter Peralta 57’ Shannon Burgin 85’ Blaz Dejanovic 91’
Red Cards: Blaz Dejanovic 91’
Sydney Olympic: 1 Paul Henderson 2 Emmanuel Giannaros 5 Richard Luksic 3 Brett Studman 7 Phil Makrys 8 Chris Triantis (78’ 23 Takayuki Omi) 11 Robbie Mileski 19 David Gullo (65’ 9 Hussein Akil) 18 Jerry Kalouris 16 Peter Triantis 14 William Angel (87’ 4 Ibrahim Haydar)
Substitutes Not Used: 21 Nenad Vekic 15 Todd Bamber
Yellow Cards: Chris Triantis 10’, David Gullo 15’, Peter Triantis 34’, Robbie Mileski 60’, Phil Makrys 77’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 - Chris Triantis (SO)
2 - Phil Makrys (SO)
1 - Steve Liavas (BC)
-By Stuart Jones
