Return to League Index

Northern Territory North Zone Premier League 2010

Match report

Finals Series - Grand Final - Saturday, 18/09/2010 - 19:00 - Darwin Football Stadium

Darwin Olympic - Hellenic 3:0 (1:0)

Goals: 1:0 Gary Molloy (5.); 2:0 Michael Tsounias (81.); 3:0 Michael Tsounias (90.)

DARWIN Olympic completed the treble for the fifth time in its history with an enthralling 3-0 victory over arch-rivals the Hellenic Blues in the Habitat Premier League grand final last night.

The Reds were the standout team of the season, having won the Presidents Cup and the league championship, but they were almost upstaged in a tight grand final, despite the final scoreline.

It was an eventful and often fiery first half, with both teams going in hard as fans would expect in a "Greek Derby" grand final.

When Gary Molloy gave Olympic the lead within five minutes, it seemed as if a rout was on the cards but the Blues, as they've done throughout the last six weeks of the competition, kept fighting hard and managed to stop Olympic's momentum.

They almost got on the board when Michel Touw connected with a flying corner, but the goal was disallowed with the forward deemed to have pushed off his man. In the 38th minute, Reds captain Mitch Amidy was brought down in the box and Olympic was awarded a penalty.

Molloy stepped up to the spot but sprayed it badly, giving Hellenic a lifeline.

The tackle also hurt Amidy, who tried to continue to play on before succumbing to the knee injury and was subbed off in the 55th minute.

The injury brought an end to his amazing streak of scoring a goal in every game this season.

With only a goal in it, Hellenic controlled the tempo at the resumption, but just couldn't break through.

In the 70th minute, Olympic came close to scoring in a goal-line scramble from a corner, before striker Michael Tsounias put the Blues two goals up with just 10 minutes to go.

That decisive goal sucked the life out of the Blues, with Tsounias putting the icing on the cake for the Reds with an injury time goal to make it 3-0.

Olympic's Josh Hughes was named best on ground for his performance controlling the midfield.

Hellenic played well and was gallant in defeat, but at the end, was no match for the star-studded Olympic side, who received the rewards they deserved after an outstanding season.

"It's just awesome, we've got the best bunch of blokes," skipper Amidy said. "I've never been in a team with an atmosphere like we've got. "They came out better than I've ever see them come out, so for us to hold them off and still win and finish them off the way we did - that's our team in a nutshell.

"What else can I say, it was an awesome season, an awesome game."

Match report courtesy of NT News.

Return to League Index

Return to League Index