By Peter Kambounias

Paul Wither's 44th minute goal has given Sydney Olympic three very valuable points in the quest for a top three finish in the TeleChoice Premier League.

The match was played in many climatic conditions including a cold blistering strong wind running towards the railway end, driving rain and a brief second half sunny reprieve with rainbows painting the southern sky.

At the end of the rainbow sat those three valuable points and Olympic, though not pretty, were playing the chess game effectively enough to keep the Demons rooted to the foot of the ladder.

Out for Olympic was Emmanuel Zunino who had suffered a shoulder injury in the midweek match against Bankstown.  Milan Blagojevic also started with Paul Wither, Roger Galayini and Iain Ramsay with Anthony Hartshorn, Siraj Al Tall and Marino Musumeci making way.

Wither set the tone for the afternoon's damp conditions with an early header in the second minute that failed to trouble Demons keeper Ivan Necevski.

Olympic were playing with the strong frosty wind at it's backs, making Blacktown's efforts to clear the ball upfield doubly as hard.   Wither got into the action in the 7th after Anthony Doumanis picked up on a stray Blacktown midfield pass, passed to Chris Triantis who sent in the cross to Wither.  He chested down and turned and shot only for a Demons foot to deflect for a corner.

The home side were slightly ahead on points in the early exchanges and the short passing game was employed in the difficult conditions.  Olympic also spent more time on the ball, moving it from one side to another and playing a patient strategy in attempting to unlock the Demons defence.

Wither would end up getting the man-of-the-match award and this was purely due to his being involved in nearly everything in Olympic's attacking opportunities.  In the 19th he flicked on a Triantis corner only for the scurrying Blacktown defence to poke the ball away only as far as Ramsay who stormed onto the loose ball - his low rasper forced Necevski to parry away for a corner.

Just four minutes later Wither was at it again.  A Peter Zorbas free kick from the half way line floated into the box.  Wither climbed and got the slightest touch with his head that forced Necevski to tip the ball over the bar for another corner.

Olympic had scored a 44th minute opener just a few nights before against Bankstown and it was the 44th minute when Olympic got the opener against the Demons.  Ramsay's corner from the right was too easy for the unmarked Paul Wither to head home leaving Necevski absolutely no chance to stop the inevitable. 

The tough conditions got even tougher in the second half.  The Demons took up Olympic's lead and kept the ball on the deck, moving it around to try and get an equaliser.  Their attempts all fell flat in the last third where the Olympic defence held firm.

Former Olympic player Tyler Simpson gave the home supporters a scare in the 59th after his header off a deep left side free kick just blazed past the left post.

On the hour mark Triantis went on his typical runs from half way and it ended with a soft shot that Necevski held well.  The chess game got bogged down into a midfield tug of war.  Olympic's fluency was stifled to such an extent that the side basically battoned down the hatches and got stuck into containing the increasingly ambitious Blacktown side.

Triantis had another half chance with an 86th minute free kick that made Necevski notch up another regulation save.   Substitute Matthew Mayora also blazed high and wide a minute later.

The win put Olympic to within a point of second placed Manly United who are on 29 points. 

SYDNEY OLYMPIC 1 (Wither 44') defeated BLACKTOWN CITY DEMONS 0 at Belmore Sports Ground.

SYDNEY OLYMPIC: Michael Herbet, Nathan Sherlock, Mirko Jurilj, Michael Cindric, Carlo Musumeci, Chris Triantis, Anthony Doumanis (83' Matthew Mayora), Roger Galayini (65' Anthony Hartshorn), Peter Zorbas, Iain Ramsay, Paul Wither