League leaders Bonnyrigg opened the scoring with their first shot on goal via Mitchell Long before Sydney Olympic captain Phil Makrys brought the home side back into the game early in the second half.

The fans didn’t have time to take their seats when Sydney Olympic had a shout for a penalty turned down in the 1’ minute of play. Chris Triantis controlled the pass from Emmanuel Giannaros only to see his shot blocked by what looked to be a hand.

Sydney Olympic showed their eagerness to open the scoring early and in the 4’ minute a great floated cross by the advancing Giannaros saw David Gullo get above his defender, heading the ball just over the crossbar.

Both teams tried to keep the ball on the flanks as the middle of the pitch was wet and heavy with the ball slowing down rapidly in there.

Olympic thought they had hit the lead in the 9^th minute when a great deep cross by Makrys was headed back across the goal by Marton Vass, with Giannaros’s header blocked on the line before a second attempt was saved just before it rolled over the line.

It would be Bonnyrigg however who would take the lead against the run of play in the 11’ minute. In form Mitchell Long received the ball in the box only to turn his defender and get his left foot shot just past the outstretched Paul Henderson for the 1-0 lead.

The opening goal spurred Bonnyrigg on as they started dominating the game with a flurry of chances coming their way.

On 18’ minutes the muddy pitch almost created another chance for Long when a header passed everyone only to hold up high in the box with Henderson just getting there in time.

A minute later Henderson misjudged the flight of a corner leaving Alex Mansueto the chance to double the lead only for the defender to have his shot cleared off the line by Peter Triantis.

The League leaders continued to create chances and in the 24’ minute a cross from the right was tapped back across goal to Long only for the striker to see Henderson deflect the ball towards the goal before regathering.

NSW Premier League top goalscorer Robbie Younis was the next to be thwarted by Henderson when his header was expertly saved by the veteran in the 29’ minute.

The shooting practice continued for Bonnyrigg a minute later as Harris Gaitatzis’s low-driven show was again saved by Henderson.

Sydney Olympic were not giving up and worked hard to try and level before the break. In the 43’ minute, Giannaros got around former teammate Ken Chun before crossing the ball to Sam Awad who saw his header go wide of the mark.

On the stroke of half-time, Makrys received the ball from Peter Triantis on the halfway line before the captain beat three White Eagles defenders but his attempted cross was blocked out for a corner.

Sydney Olympic coach Peter Tsekenis tried to shake things up for his team after the break, replacing Chris Triantis with striker Kutaiba Elrich.

The move paid dividends right away with Sydney Olympic squaring the game up at 1-1 in the 48’ minute. After Elrich saw his curling free-kick tipped over the bar, Makrys stepped up to curl his corner into the back of the net.

Bonnyrigg came straight back into the game and in the 59’ minute Younis was well shut down by Brett Studman allowing Henderson to make an easy save.

A minute later Long was at it again troubling the Olympic defence. The former Blacktown City player beat the offside trap and made his way towards goal, but his shot went well over the bar keeping the scores level.

Ken Chun almost broke the hearts of his former side in the 64’ minute as his 20-yard shot went just wide of the left hand upright.

Bonnyrigg White Eagles captain Chris Tadrosse saved his side in the 70’ minute as he cleared another curling Makrys corner from making it 2-1.

Sydney Olympic striker Sam Awad had a great chance to send his side into the lead on 73’ minutes. A floating through ball beat Nikola Stanojevic with Awad striking the ball over the bar from 8-yards.

Bonnyrigg could have won the game in the 81’ minute with substitute Jordan Simpson’s header coming off the crossbar before Long missed a sitter, following up to volley the ball over the wood work.

Kutaiba Elrich was in the thick of the action again with 5’ minutes remaining with his snapshot going over the top left corner.

The end-to-end action continued with minutes remaining as Alex Canak got his head onto a corner, though the ball finished wide of the mark.

Blues captain Phil Makrys was almost the hero twice in the final minutes, sending two shots to the left of the goal.

Adrian Ucchino almost killed off the game in injury time with his shot coming off Henderson’s chest and against the post before the goalkeeper regathered to end the game 1-1.

Match Report courtesy of FNSW