Bulli stormed to the top of the Illawarra Mercury Premier League with an impressive 4-1 win away at Wollongong Olympic on Saturday afternoon. Three first half goals effectively sewed up this tie by half time, and when the visitors added a fourth to their tally ten minutes after the break, it was too tall a mountain for Olympic to climb. The home side got one goal back just past the hour mark, but failed to make further inroads through a well-organised Bulli defence.

Speaking after the match, Bull coach Ben Smith said: “It’s fantastic for the boys to come here and get a result against one of the teams that’s going to be up there at the end of the season. I thought we defended well and put our chances away when we got them. It’s been a tough start to the season and we’ve picked up a few injuries, but we have a great squad who’ll all put in a performance for me on the day”.

With the two sides riding high in the top five after two rounds of football, a good crowd was drawn in to enjoy the sunshine at PCYC. But the game got off to a slow start, with the first 20 minutes played out in the middle of the park, Olympic happy to play the patient passing game, with little penetration up front, while Bulli looked sharper on the break, though giving the ball away too easily when they did take possession.

It was one of those turnovers that gave Olympic a chance in the 20^th minute. Harvey Rodriguez fed the ball through to Sam Gordon who found sharpshooter Wandi Jajaw on the edge of the area. The striker teed up his shot but the ball hit a divot in the ground and bobbled out of reach of his left foot.

In the middle of the park Aaron Baker was Bulli’s playmaker and it was a Baker break which set up Dylan Lewis for Bulli’s first real chance in the 24^th minute. Lewis shaped to cross but chose instead to go for goal himself, forcing a fine save low down at the near post by Olympic keeper Hayden Durose.

Minutes later it was Jim Kerr who burst into the Olympic area and fired a low across into the middle. An Olympic defender couldn’t get his hand out of the way quickly enough and the referee had no option but to point to the spot. Lewis stepped up to send Durose the wrong way and give Bulli the lead in the 27^th minute.

And suddenly the game opened up.

Down at the other end Ja Kon Yu set up Yusuke Ueda, whose shot was well saved by Bulli keeper Yuya Kuwata.

But Bulli broke again, with the lively Lewis watching his shot slide just wide of the upright after getting the smallest of deflections. From the resulting corner, Julian Minutillo got in on the action with a header that looped just over.

Jake Duczynski came forward for the set-pieces and almost stole an equaliser for Olympic in the 40 minute. He got up highest to meet a free kick but saw his near post header just turned away for a corner.

The home side were then stunned by two late first half goals, as Bulli shifted up a gear.

Matt Naylor started the quickfire move which saw McDonald flick on to Lewis, who took the ball to the byline before crossing for Minutillo to fire home from close range. And in a copycat move a minute later the visitors almost scored again, as Lewis again drove the ball in from the byline, this time just out of McDonald’s reach in front of goal.

But there was more to come before the break, as Lewis again beat his defender and crossed for McDonald who fired a bullet into the back of the net to give Bulli a 0-3 lead at half time.

Whatever coach Rob Birkin said at half time seemed to work as Wollongong Olympic came out with more purpose in the second half.

In saying that, whatever Olympic threw at the Bulli back line, the visitors remained resolute. Jajaw looked sluggish for most of the match, and Ueda was hounded as soon as he got a sniff of the ball near the area, often surrounded by three defenders, preventing him from getting a look at goal.

When McDonald fired in another ten minutes after the break, after a superb assist from Naylor, it was game over.

Olympic pulled one goal back just after the hour mark when Ueda converted a penalty after being pulled down in the box. And although that goal temporarily energised the home side, it was Bulli that still looked more likely to add to their tally.

Substitute Ryan Emerton was unlucky when running along the edge of the area to set up a left foot shot, but the ball hit the same divot that had thrown Jajaw earlier.

Lewis, meanwhile, was still causing the Olympic defence problems. He drove in another low shot from the right, which Rodriguez sliced rather wildly away for a corner. But it was Rodriguez himself who saved his team’s blushes seconds later when he cleared a McDonald header off the line. And then it was centre back Jack Keating who got his back in the way of a goal-bound pile-driver from Guy Knight.

With five minutes to go, McDonald was on cue to get his first hat-trick of the season. Minutillo chipped the ball in from the left, with McDonald waiting at the far post. The striker chested the ball down and swung his left foot for a volley but missed completely, when any contact would surely have seen his third goal of the game.

To make matters worse for the home side, they had Isaac Lee dismissed for a second caution late in the game.

Jajaw did however come close for Olympic in the dying seconds but saw his own goal bound shot cleverly back-heeled off the line by Knight. It just wasn’t Olympic’s day, and although Bulli’s front line might get the headlines, it was the Bulli defence that did as much to win this game for the visitors, with an efficient performance in front of their own goal.

With rivals Wollongong United losing at Picton, the win gave Bulli outright leadership of the Ladder overnight, pending results elsewhere on Sunday.

Wollongong Olympic – 1 (Ueda, pen, 62’)

Bulli FC – 4 (Lewis, pen, 27’, Minutillo 43’, McDonald 45’ + 1’, 54)

Saturday 9 April 2016

PCYC, Wollongong

Referee: Bobby Mazevski

Assistant Referees: Thomas Kentta, John Ruscica

Wollongong Olympic: Hayden Durose, Haydyn Lloyd, Ja Kon Yu, Jack Keating, Harvey Rodriguez (Andrej Gacesa 88’), Jake Duczynski, Brendan Fordham, Graeme Smith (Isaac Lee 59’), Yusuke Ueda, Wandi Jajaw, Sam Gordon (Hazebroek-Southgate 72’) (subs not used: Nathan Sutcliffe, Declan Baker)

Bulli FC: Yuya Kuwata, Matthew Naylor, Scott Best, Aaron Baker, Kenji Takahashi, Guy Knight, Jim Kerr, Sam Davies (Ryan Emerton 67’), Dylan Lewis (Lewis Clements 75’), Ben McDonald, Julian Minutill (subs not used: Jack Miranda, Kyle Jackson, Alex Bausch)

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo courtesy of Noel Wynn