Olympic holds firm
THE Norzone men’s grand final will be a Hellenic-Olympic Greek derby after the Reds defeated Casuarina 2-1 at Darwin Football Stadium last night.
Two goals within the space of 120 seconds midway through the first half were enough to put Olympic through, despite playing with 10 men in the second 45 minutes.
Steve Lolias’ team entered the clash on the back of a 3-0 defeat to Hellenic, while the Rowdies disposed of FFA Cup Territory champions, Darwin Rovers 4-2 in the knockout semi-final.
Casuarina had the better of the opening 20 minutes but failed to create any clear cut chances. It proved costly when Billy Kathopoulis took Olympic 1-0 up in the 21st minute.
The Reds skipper was put through by Kevin Yann from a central area. The pass found Kathopoulis on goal and the striker neatly tucked it past Rowdies keeper Manoli Simeon.
Olympic doubled their advantage when Casuarina couldn’t clear the ball from the byline. It was hit straight to Yann, who fired back on target past the outstretched hand of Simeon into the bottom left corner.
The Rowdies almost hit back immediately but couldn’t convert. Imam Mukhlis broke free on the right flank and whipped a ball into the penalty area. Alexander Murrell was leading the race, but couldn’t land his foot on the ball.
A perfect 45 minutes for Olympic was halted just before the stroke of half-time when Tiago Soares was shown a second yellow card for handball.
Casuarina held most possession in the second half, but it didn’t translate to danger inside the 18-yard box until the 84th minute.
Mukhlis whipped in a free kick which found Gordon Pereira, who guided it into the back of the net with his head.
There were nervy moments for Olympic in injury time. The Reds allowed Alex Murrell to pull the trigger, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.