By Peter Kambounias

The Sutherland Sharks have delivered an ominous sign to the rest of the competition that they are very serious title contenders with a fairly comprehensive 3-0 win over Sydney Olympic at Seymour Shaw Park.

Sutherland were always in control of a game where Olympic had both the league leaders and some very dubious officiating to contend with.  The Sharks were just too fast and clinical for Olympic who at times appeared to be struggling to keep up in a high-tempo pulsating match.

The most controversial moment of the game came in the 49th minute where Olympic were denied what looked like an equalising goal.  Emmanuel Zunino's header off a corner was tipped away by Sutherland keeper Phillip Zabaks for another corner.  Iain Ramsay hit the second corner with his left boot on the right corner and the ball was headed on by Michael Cindric at the near post.  The ball ended up being poked into the net by Siraj Al Tall's header - sending the Olympic players and fans into raptures.

Referee Kristian Griffith-Jones appeared to have awarded the goal but then noticed his assistant Murray Wilson (running the line opposite the grandstand) with his flag raised in such a fashion that he was signalling for offside.  After a brief consultation with his assistant Griffith-Jones gave the home side a free kick about a metre out from the by-line.

From that moment on the Olympic fans continually asked the assitant referee for an explanation as to why the goal was disallowed.  Ramsay's corner was an inswinger bending from left to right meaning the ball would not have travelled over the by-line.  Sutherland Sharks would have had two men on each post, meaning that offside was also out of the question.  Speculation ran rife amongst the Olympic fans who were baffled as to the decision to invalidate the goal.  Rumours doing the rounds after the game suggested that the goal was disallowed for a foul by Olympic in the crowded area.

Off the stick Olympic could have got the scoreboard attendant working.  In the second minute, and with the game already materialising as a pressure-cooker tussle, Chris Triantis hit a brilliant free kick that looked home and hosed as a goal but Zabaks dived full stretch to his right to stop the ball from sneaking into the bottom left corner.  The chance filled the Olympic boys with immense confidence in their quest to inflict the Sharks with their first defeat of the season.

But Sutherland had very different ideas.  The Sharks got a highly accurate passing game combined with high speed along the flanks and deadly effectiveness from their attacking raids started at the rear.  Sutherland quickly became easily the best side the Olympic players and supporters had seen take on the club in 2008.

Sutherland's early dominance was rewarded with a goal after the quarter hour mark.  Brendan Gan shook off Cindric and blasted a rocket leaving Michael Herbet with no chance, putting the Sharks one up.

Triantis made his return to the side after serving a two match ban and was an instant replacement for Milorad Simonovic who has picked up an injury and is expected to be out for at least three weeks.  Triantis, following up on his early free kick, he launched a sweetly hit volley in the 22nd minute that again had Zabaks scrambling to deny an Olympic goal.  Olympic were beginning to get into the game as the player square-ups had already produced several physical tackles.  One such tackle by Paul Wither earned him a yellow card from Griffith-Jones.

In the 34th Wither went for another sturdy challenge that looked for all and sundry as his last contribution to the game.  Griffith-Jones must have realised that Wither had already been booked and resorted to strongly recommending Wither to stay out of any future trouble - which he did. 

Zabaks was the Sharks' saviour once more in the 35th by denying Cindric's header off a Peter Zorbas free kick.

Throughout the first half there were several dubious decisions but there was a spell towards the end of the first half where Olympic came up empty handed for free kicks that appeared as clear as day for Olympic fans.  Olympic supporters began to make their feelings to the referee known, by asking for a fair go and for the ref to officiate for both sides.  That said, Sutherland were deserved leaders into the half time break.

Before the interval Olympic would have levelled had Iain Ramsay's free kick flown past the inside of the right post instead of the outside.  The free kick was given for a rash challenge by former Olympic player George Souris on Al Tall.

Olympic emerged after the break with an obvious desire to quickly get back on level terms.  The Sutherland defence managed to clear the ball off the goal line after Ramsay's corner was headed-on by Cindric at the near post for Wither to head down and goalbound.

Two minutes later came the controversy of that disallowed goal.  It was a pivotal moment that changed the momentum of the match. 

Sutherland basically wrapped up the points when the second goal was scored in the 64th.  Olympic had a corner and the tall timber were all in the penalty area, leaving the diminutive Marino Musumeci to mark Brad Boardman on the half way line.  Sutherland diffused the corner and punted upfield for Boardman who easily took control of the ball then turned and chipped for the speedy Gan to run onto the ball in the inside left channel and with no defender in front of him.  Herbet quickly came off his line but Gan saw the open goal behind him and precisely chipped the keeper to make it 2-0.

It could have been three had not Triantis stuck a boot out to stop a certain near post poke by the Sharks.  In the 70th minute the Sharks made it three.  Another former Olympic player Jim Bakis sent a pin-point cross for Boardman to powerfully head past Herbet's left arm.  Herbet also pulled off several saves in the final ten minutes to keep the score at 3-0.

Overall though, Sutherland clearly showed why they have remained unbeaten in the TeleChoice Premier League and why they are very hot favourites to take out the Minor Premiership.  Olympic will probably run into the Sharks again in the Championship playoffs where Olympic's game will be required to be at full potential in order to match it with the Sharks. 

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 3 (Gan 16' 64' Boardman 70') defeated SYDNEY OLYMPIC 0 at Seymour Shaw Park

SYDNEY OLYMPIC: Michael Herbet, Emmanuel Zunino, Mirko Jurilj, Michael Cindric, Nathan Sherlock (63' Shannon Cole), Peter Zorbas (71' James Kovas), Chris Triantis, Anthony Hartshorn, Iain Ramsay, Siraj Al Tall (58' Marino Musumeci), Paul Wither