Picture: Bruno Silverii

By David Manuca

South Melbourne has been eliminated from the 2015 PlayStation® 4 NPL Finals Series after suffering a 2-1 home defeat to Tasmanian outfit Olympia FC on Saturday afternoon.

Olympia took the lead after just three minutes through Lachlan Nichols before doubling their advantage on the half-hour mark via a Tim Mala own goal.

The away side were reduced to ten men less than ten minutes into the second-half but managed to hold on for the result despite a Milos Lujic goal and an enormous amount of late pressure from South.

The loss comes just six days after South Melbourne were defeated at the same venue by Bentleigh Greens in the 2015 PS4 NPL Victoria Grand Final.

South Melbourne's pre-match preparation was thrown into chaos with Michael Eagar injuring an ankle in the warm-up, replaced in the starting XI by David Stirton while Thomas Lakic was drafted in to sit on the bench.

South Melbourne had to chase the game from the outset, with a free-kick from the left finished via a fantastic diving header from Nichols.

The early goal came as a shock to South Melbourne but first David Stirton and then Lujic had chances to bring South level just minutes after going behind.

Gavin Hoy was looking dangerous for Olympia and the no.10 made a fool of the South defence, weaving his way past three players before his cut-back took a deflection and found the back of the net.

Just five minutes later defender Chris Irwin found himself forward and his shot from the edge of the area hit the post before being cleared away.

Leigh Minopoulos had a shot blocked shortly afterwards before the referee blew for what was a very frustrating half for South Melbourne.

However, Olympia midfielder Shae Hickey received a second yellow card nine minutes into the restart and that gave South Melbourne the spark they needed to get themselves back into the contest.

The goal came just seven minutes later, with none other than Lujic getting his head on a cross to bring South back into the game. From then on it was all South.

Minopoulos should have equalised four minutes later but after getting past the defence and creating some space his shot was brilliantly blocked by Sean Lewis.

Nicholas Epifano hit the crossbar after some great work in the box before Lujic had a shot saved from Minopoulos’ cross.

Lujic had another chance saved, this time from a header, before half-time substitute Dane Milovanovic had a shot cleared off the line in added time.

South did all they could but the underdogs from Tasmania stood tall and came out shock 2-1 winners.

MATCH DETAILS

South Melbourne 1 (Lujic 61’) Olympia 2 (Nichols 3’, Mala OG 29’)

South Melbourne: 22. Fraser MACLAREN, 2. Shpetim MALA (23. Andy KECOJEVIC 46’), 5. Luke ADAMS, 7. Nicholas EPIFANO, 8. Mathew THEODORE, 9. Milos LUJIC, 11. Bradley NORTON, 14. Chris IRWIN (21. Jake BARKER-DAISH 82’), 27. Leigh MINOPOULOS, 77. Stephen HATZIKOSTAS, 10. David STIRTON (13. Dane MILOVANOVIC 46’).

Un-used substitutes: 28. Rory BRIAN (GK), 6. Thomas LAKIC.

Yellow cards: Nil

Red cards: Nil

Olympia FC: 1. Sean LEWIS (GK), 3. Harry WOOLLEY (14. Jonathan GRIFFITHS 76’), 4.Shae HICKEY, 5. Luke EYLES, 6. Nicholas MEARNS, 7. Warren WADAWU (13. Christian DI MARTINO 57’), 9. Emmanuel TSAKIRIS, 10. Gavin HOY, 11. Nicholas MEREDITH (18. Jack CALLAN 90’), 15. Lauren NICHOLS, 16. Jake VANDERMAY.

Un-used substitutes: 19. Stuart PAGE, 21. Spiros PARADISIS.

Yellow cards: Hickey 22’, 54’, Meredith 51’, Hoy 69’

Red cards: Hickey 54’