Albion Park White Eagles travelled to PCYC to face Wollongong Olympic in a huge Illawarra Mercury Premier League clash that before the game could have seen either side take top spot on the ladder with a win. A goal from Hikaru Kawasakiya after 12 minutes sent the Albion Park into the lead but Olympic pulled it level just before half-time thanks to a goal from Shun Tokuno. Neither side was able to find the net in a tense second half which saw Albion Park keeper Chris Fuentes Ramirez sent off seven minutes from full-time, both sides having to settle for a point in a tight 1-1 draw.

Wollongong Olympic were flying high both in the league and the recent history of this fixture – winning eight of the 14 matches between the two sides in regular season play since Olympic was promoted to the Premier League in 2011.

The White Eagles however were determined to break the side down and continue their fantastic unbeaten start to the league season. It was the visitors who had the first real chance of the match in the 11^th minute, when Shayne Ardle found himself rocketing down the left hand side of the pitch before firing off a bouncing cross which found Chris Gomez in the box. However, Gomez would fire his header over the post and out for an Olympic goal-kick.

Gomez would quickly make up for his miss sixty seconds later. Olympic’s goal kick was recovered by the Albion Park midfield and passed onto Gomez, allowing him to spin the ball from the right side of the field over to a waiting Hikaru Kawasakiya just outside the Olympic box. Kawasakiya would not need to wait around for his chance, stepping through and firing a powerful shot past Olympic keeper Hayden Durose and into the net to give the visitors the lead.

Albion Park would have a golden chance to double their advantage in the 30^th minute when Shayne Ardle found himself bursting down the left-hand side of the field, only to cut in and fire off a shot at the Olympic goal. His effort managed to beat a diving Hayden Durose but the visitors were denied by the post, as the shot ricocheted off the upright and back into the path of the scrambling Olympic defence.

While Olympic found themselves struggling to create many chances in the opening exchanges, the side found more and more space in the final moments of the opening half. Olympic had a solid chance to level the scores in the 34^th minute when a free-kick from John Martinoski found the head of Yusuke Ueda, but the Premier League’s leading goal scorer was unable to muster enough power to beat White Eagles keeper Chris Fuentes Ramirez, his header just falling into the open arms of the shot-stopper.

Just four minutes later, Olympic would have another good chance to equalize when Kojiro Hori found himself in space with the ball outside of the box. Hori fired off a powerful shot that curled its way to the right-hand side of the Albion Park goalmouth, but his effort was denied by a great diving save from Fuentes Ramirez to keep his side in the lead.

With just a minute to go before half-time, Olympic would find themselves on equal terms when David Hartas burst down the right-hand side of the park and forced Fuentes Ramirez to rush out to him in an attempt to shut down the attack. Hartas was one step ahead and chipped the ball over the rushing White Eagles keeper, allowing Shun Tokuno to rush in and level the scores with a sliding effort that came off his chest.

With the sides level going into the second half, both teams were looking to break the deadlock and Olympic came agonizingly close in the 55^th minute when a long shot from Tokuno caused Fuentes Ramirez to fumble his save, pushing the ball into the path of Ueda. The striker was unable to accurately aim his shot under pressure and the ball rolled out to the left of the Albion Park goal.

With Olympic pushing up to try and grab the winner, Albion Park struggled to clear the attacking pressure and found themselves on the back-foot for much of the second half. They would come close to pulling ahead in the 68^th minute though when Chris Nathaniel would break free of the Olympic defence and fire off a perfectly placed cross to Chris Gomez, but his headed effort would sail wide of the post before he was pulled up for being offside.

Olympic would have a strong chance of their own in the 78^th minute when fantastic linkup play from John Martinoski and Vaughan Patterson allowed a ball to fly to Yusuke Ueda, who attempted to finish the game off with a wonderful bicycle kick attempt, but his effort would fly over the crossbar.

With pressure building, the tension culminated in the 83^rd minute, when an altercation in the Albion Park penalty area off an Olympic corner saw White Eagles keeper Chris Fuentes Ramirez dismissed for violent conduct. Chris Gomez having been sacrificed to allow back-up keeper Jacob Hufton to come on.

With the Eagles looking to see out the game, Olympic mustered one last chance in the dying embers of the match when a ball from Shun Tokuno found the head of Yusuke Ueda in the box, but Ueda’s effort went over the bar, which ensured both sides would leave PCYC with a point in a tight 1-1 draw.

The draw sees Albion Park stretch their unbeaten start to the 2018 Premier League season as the side remains in third place, one point behind league leaders Bulli and Wollongong Olympic.

Wollongong Olympic next take on Cringila Lions in the Bert Bampton Cup on Wednesday night before facing a Corrimal side that is coming off a 2-0 loss to Woonona in the Premier League next Sunday. Meanwhile, Albion Park will be backing up in a double header facing Berkeley Sports for a spot in the next round of the Bert Bampton Cup before facing Fernhill next weekend.

Saturday 12 May 2018 at PCYC.

Wollongong Olympic – 1 (Tokuno 44’)

Albion Park White Eagles – 1 (Kawasakiya 12’)

Wollongong Olympic: Hayden DUROSE, Haydyn LLOYD, Jake KEATING, Jake DUCZYNSKI, Shun TOKUNO, David HARTAS, Lukas STERGIOU, Vaughan PATTERSON, Kojiro HORI, John MARTINOSKI, Yusuke UEDA

Subs: Jack BALMFORTH (HORI NA’), Luke FOSTER (LLOYD NA’), Robbie GAUDIOSI, Christian CABO, Harrison MATIAS

Albion Park White Eagles: Chris FUENTES RAMIREZ, Blake MCGINN, Kane WRIGHT, Shannon FIELDING, Chris NATHANIEL, Robbie DELBANCO, Nathan RALPH, Kody MAUDE, Chris GOMEZ, Shayne ARDLE, Hikaru KAWASAKIYA

Subs: Jesse CASEY (KAWASAKIYA NA’), Sean KENNEDY, Luke DEBROT (RALPH NA’), Jacob HUFTON (GOMEZ NA’), Cody WEHMEYER

Referee – Peter ILCEVSKI

Assistant Referees – Caleb BLANCH and Emajen CRAWLEY

Report by Cal Behrendt, on Twitter @CalBehrendt

Photo by Kiah Hufton