By Peter Kambounias

Sydney Olympic squandered a 2-0 first half lead to share the points in a 2-2 draw against Marconi Stallions at a rain-soaked Belmore Sports Ground.

Maybe the very dark clouds that painted the sky over Belmore before the start of the game was a clear sign of things to come for Olympic.  Maybe it was the surprising 3-1 loss suffered by the table topping Under 20's side.  At half time though, Olympic were leading and doing it comfortably - cruising like a sports car on the freeway towards win number five on the trot in the league - that is until what looked to be a very dubious penalty was awarded to Marconi and the road for Olympic became very rough all of a sudden.

With Milan Blagojevic away overseas for work purposes, Under 20's coach Pat Marando coached the side and things got off to a good start for him.

Paul Wither and Peter Zorbas were everywhere in the first fifteen minutes and they were very ably supported by the rest of the outfield players.  Michael Herbet didn't have too much happening at his neck of the woods.

Olympic's midfield and defence safely held out their opponents and were quickly turning defence into attack.  One such move ended with Michael Cindric plonking a header onto the crossbar.  Anthony Hartshorn latched onto the rebound and cut back smartly only for the Stallions to put the ball out for a corner. The wet conditions did nothing to dampen Olympic's mood to move the ball around.

In the 16th Nathan Sherlock and Zorbas combined well to diffuse a Marconi  attack in the left pocket and Matthew Mayora ran the ball upfield then delivered a great switching ball over to the far left wing to the unmarked Emmanuel Zunino with space to burn.  He ran towards the penalty area and shot low and hard but across the face of goal - a move that put a bit of heat into the crowd.

Hartshorn's persistance on the ball in the 19th earned his side a free kick outside the box and straight on to goal.  Zorbas hit the free low and hard but was saved by ex-Olympic keeper Cem Akili.

Sherlock dubiously earned a yellow card for a very inoccuous challenge in the 21st - in what would be another sign of things ahead for Olympic but little did the crowd know at that stage.  Olympic were looking like winners.

A big chance was squandered by the home side in the 26th when Milorad Simonovic launched a midfield chip to Iain Ramsay on the left - he was unmarked and onside and had plenty of time to improve his position and line up a shot, which unfortunately went too close to Akili and he was able to push the ball away for a corner.

Exactly thirty minutes in and the rain began to belt down in a signature move put on by the first day of winter.

Two minutes later Olympic took the lead.  Simonovic started the move.  He played right to Wither in the front right pocket and he cut back to the oncoming Mirko Jurilj in the box.  Jurilj ran to the by-line and cut back with the ball ending up with Ramsay near the outskirts of the penalty area.  Ramsay was flanked by two Marconi defenders but he managed to twist and turn allowing a venomous left foot shot to scoot across Akili and into the bottom right corner of the net. 

Ramsay then went on a celebratory run with some humour to it.  He ran towards a teammate then quickly switched direction to head to another team mate.  After 'teasing' several team-mates he stopped to be congratulated on the half way line.

Iain Ramsay celebrates Olympic's first goal of the game.  Photo courtesy of FNSW

There was a shock for the side in the 40th when another former Olympic player in Nahuel Arrarte set up a Marconi header that was cleared off the line by Zunino.

Then in the 42nd minute Olympic went further ahead.  Wither was put into that front right pocket yet again and he crossed low only for Marconi's Nathan Moulds to put past Akili's despairing left arm and into the net.

Wither's persisting runs on the defence and goalkeepers of late was replicated in the 56th minute but Akili beat him to the poorly weighted Marconi back pass.

Marconi's Chris Nunes missed an open header off substitute Tolgay Ozbey's accurate cross in what was another scare for the home side.  Whereas Olympic got away with that let off the side would not escape at the hands of what would be the most controversial decision by the referee who, up until that point, had only minor indiscretions to deal with.

In the 64th minute Ozbey made a run into the box and looked to be clearly and cleanly dispossessed by Zunino who tackled low but did not connect with Ozbey.  Zunino got up and cleared the ball away, only for referee Nathan Rice to blow his whistle and point to the spot to the anger of the home fans who did not waste time in loudly booing the decision.

It was revealed after the game that the referee had ruled that Zunino had handled the ball during the tackle.

Marconi's Luke Casserly stepped up and converted the penalty amidst the continuing chorus of boos being belted out by the Olympic supporters and amplified by the main grandstand roof.   Marconi then received another two dubious free kicks that further earned the wrath of the home fans, and when the referee waved away Olympic's appeals for a penalty of their own in the 71st when it appeared a Marconi player had handled in his box, the booing just got even louder.

Nerves set into the spectators as the final 15 minutes beckoned.  Wither missed a close range header in the 86th that should have wrapped up the game and two minutes later Marconi's Vuko Tomasevic received his second yellow card and was marched from the field.  Tensions were high but Olympic's efforts to make it to the end as winners came unstuck in the 89th minute.

Ozbey made a dashing run into the box and delivered a pinpoint cut back to Ante Deur who gave Herbet no chance from mid-range to send the away team into elation. 

Michael Cindric could have given Olympic a 3-2 lead at the death but he attempted to shoot from an acute angle and muffed the awkward ball that came to him.

The full time whistle was echoed by an loud howl of booing by the Olympic faithful who were shell shocked as to what they had seen.

After the game the Olympic players were stunned and extremely dissapointed.  They expressed their amazement at some of the decisions that went against them, with Wither and Cindric also dirty on themselves for missing chances for their side.  Ramsay, Simonovic, Zorbas and Herbet all shook their heads in bewilderment.  Zunino was adamant that his tackle was clean and was clearly not pleased with what had transpired, openly protesting his innocence.

As the fans began to leave the ground the rain began to fall again in the darkness that befell on Belmore.  Those early signs were right in the end.

SYDNEY OLYMPIC 2 (Ramsay 32', Moulds (own goal) 42') drew with MARCONI STALLIONS 2 (Casserley (pen) 64, Deur 89') at Belmore Sports Ground

SYDNEY OLYMPIC: Michael Herbet, Emmanuel Zunino, Mirko Jurilj, Michael Cindric, Nathan Sherlock, Peter Zorbas, Matthew Mayora (51' Anthony Doumanis), Anthony Hartshorn, Iain Ramsay (76' Siraj Al Tall), Milorad Simonovic, Paul Wither (88' James Kovas)