It was a polished performance by Campbelltown City in their 4-1 triumph over a gallant Adelaide Olympic in the round 20 fixture of the Play Station 4 national Premier at Steve Woodcock Sports Centre.

 

A first half three goal blitz by a marauding Campbelltown offence setup the victory, as   Olympic struggled to answer the challenge. Campbelltown were in total control across the park, as Olympic allowed their host too much time on the ball. Wing back Jake Halliday was in stellar form giving Campbelltown a lot of drive through the left channel linking up well with Anthony Ture in their forward third. While Adam Piscioneri, Kieta Minomura and Vasilis Parhas were dominant in the middle of the park.

 

A stylish 6^th minute strike by Lui Ditrioa opened the scoring for Campbelltown. They nearly had another courtesy of a Thomas Strain header which flew into the back of the net, only to be judged to be off side.

 

Campbelltown’s work rate was exceptional as the whole side worked as a complete unit. Their hard work was again rewarded in the 28^th minute when a sublime Piscioneri free kick found an unmarked Iain Fyfe who headed the ball into the roof of the net for Campbelltown’s second goal of the half.

 

The dangerous Strain again found the back of the net, and like his first attempt was adjudicated to be in an offside position, to the relief of the Olympic defenders in Thomas Maricic and Jarius Wyten, who were doing their best to hold out the rampant Campbelltown offence.

 

Some sloppy defending in the 42^nd gifted Campbelltown with another close range free kick. The set piece saw Piscioneri again execute a pin point cross to Parhas who headed home their third goal for the half.

 

The goal celebrations seemed to break Campbelltown’s concentration momentarily, and the visitors made them pay in the 43^rd minute with a quick break from the kick off which saw Julio Abadia fire a shot past the stranded Nicholas Harpas to score a neat opportunistic goal. 

 

Olympic went into the break with a little optimism after absorbing Campbelltown’s initial onslaught.

 

It was Olympic who made the early running after halftime winning four corners inside the first ten minutes of the second half, as Ioannis Simosis, Kosta Mantis and David Makridis tried to inspire their side. But for all their efforts they couldn’t find a way through the well organised Campbelltown defence.

 

Campbelltown always looked the more dangerous and a likely scorer when they moved forward. And they had two great opportunities to add to their halftime score line, but both attempts were well saved by Gino De Lucia who had a great game in the Olympic goals.

 

It was third time lucky in the 80^th minute for Tommy Strain. The talented striker collected a neat pass from Ditrioa inside the box, and from close range iced the game for Campbelltown as the visitors conceded their fourth goal for the game.

 

A despondent Kosta Mantis said the slow start in the first half really hurt them. He was happy that his side didn’t throw in the towel when they went 3-0 down.

 

“We really had a slow start to the game. They (Campbelltown) are a classy outfit and they made us pay with three goals on the scoreboard.” Mantis said.

 

“We were able to get a goal back just before halftime which gave us some confidence.”

 

“We came out in the second half and really pressed them but we couldn’t manufacture enough chances in front of goal to trouble them.”

 

 

Campbelltown defender Jake Halliday was pleased with the hard fought result. He said the team could have easily sat back after going 3-0 up but his side continued to work hard for the full ninety minutes.

 

“We knew we had the win in our grasp after the third goal, but we got ahead of ourselves and they scored one before halftime which disappointed the coach.” Halliday said

 

“To their credit they came at us early in the second half, but we knew as a team that we could shut them out.”

 

“We pride ourselves on our work rate on and off the ball. We knew we had to win the hard ball today to get the points and that was the task we set ourselves going into the match.”

 

Olympics’ fate to avoid relegation will be decided next week when they host fellow relegation contender Croydon Kings in what promises to be another do or die encounter.