Preview: Sydney Olympic v Bentleigh Greens
Sydney Olympic v Bentleigh Greens
Tuesday 16 September 2014 (Kick-Off 7.30pm local time)
Lambert Park, Leichhardt NSW
#SOvBG
Tickets are available at the gate on the night of the match or click here to go to the official Sydney Olympic website
Coverage details: LIVE updates on FOX SPORTS 3 and 3HD
Radio broadcast: 1422AM 3XY Radio Hellas Melbourne
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #SOvBG
Sydney Olympic squad: 1.Paul HENDERSON (GK), 2.Brayden SORGE, 3.Troy DANASKOS, 4.Brendan HOOPER, 5.Bradley TRELOAR, 6.Ryan KEIR, 7.William ANGEL, 8.Christopher GODOY BASCUR, 9.Dimitri HATZIMOURATIS, 10.Harris GAITATZIS, 12.Kresmir KARDUM, 14.Peter MARKOVIC (c), 15.Yianni SPYRAKIS, 18.Taiga SOEDA, 19.Go SHIRAI, 33.Christos TOMARAS, 39.Michael GAITATZIS, 111.Nicholas SORRAS (GK)
Bentleigh Greens squad: 1.Andrew GIANNOS (GK), 2.Thomas MATTHEWS, 3.James CUMMING, 4.Patrick AVICE, 5.Jack WEBSTER, 7.Jamie DeABREU, 8.Wayne WALLACE, 9.Luke O’DEA, 10.David STIRTON, 11.Christopher DROUTSAS, 12.Luke GALLO, 14.Ryan DE VRIES, 15.Christian CAVALLO, 16.Nick TEICHMAN, 19.Liam McCORMICK, 21.Alistair BRAY (GK), 22.Lewis FOSTER, 24.Luke PILKINGTON, 25.Andre McNAMARA
Just how Sydney Olympic can recover from their heart-breaking NSW NPL Grand Final defeat on Sunday could determine who wins this intriguing battle.
The former NSL powerhouse went down in extra-time 2-1 to Blacktown City on Sunday and coach Grant Lee has just 48 hours to get them back up for this huge clash on the excellent Lambert Park surface.
Despite the defeat, Olympic head into this one in strong from and are battle-hardened having come through three sudden-death matches to make the decider.
Brothers Harris and Michael Gaitatzis, who helped dispose of Manly United in the last round, will again be vital to Olympic’s hopes while Ryan Keir and Go Shirai are key contributors in midfield.
Ironically, it was Bentleigh’s win over win over Blacktown City in the last stage of the Westfield FFA Cup that has set-up this round of 16 clash.
The Victorian NPL side, who finished their regular season with a 2-0 loss to Melbourne Knights on Friday night, head north again and will look to exploit any tiredness from Olympic.
Coach John Anastasiadis will employ the same hit-and-run philosophy that worked so well last time, with the side flying into Sydney on the morning of the match.
Striker David Stirton, who scored the winner against Blacktown, has been in good goal-scoring form and is Bentleigh’s main attacking outlet, while the likes of Wayne Wallace, Jack Webster and Liam McCormick will also need to produce big performances if the visitors are to make the last eight.
