Olympic secured all three points on their return to NPL Queensland action courtesy of goals from Costa Psaros, Kristen Waters and a Daniel Leck brace.
Despite having the majority of possession in the first half, Olympic were unable to find a breakthrough with the scores remaining level at the turn.
Capalaba were reduced to ten men just five minutes into the second half when goalkeeper Michael Weier received his second yellow card of the evening for bringing down Olaide Yinka-Kehinde on the top of the box.
Psaros broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute when he neatly turned his marker before rifling a shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Olympic’s second of the night came just three minutes later when Leck blasted a long range effort into the back of the net after some brilliant build up play which saw the visitors string together 50 passes before scoring.
It then didn’t take Leck long to score his second and Olympic’s third of the night, turning home Kazuya Ito’s cross at the near post in the 78th minute.
Substitute, Kristen Waters rounded out the scoring in the 86th minute with Olympic again passing their opponents to death. This time putting together 25 passes before Waters put the finishing touch on a Jez Lofthouse cut-back.
Defenders, Corey Sewell and Tom Aulton both made their club debuts as Olympic managed a third clean sheet of the season. While youngster, Tayte Aldridge, who’s come through the club’s youth teams also made his NPL Queensland debut off the bench.
Saturday’s 4-0 win sees Olympic retain their position in the NPL Queensland’s top four ahead of next Sunday’s trip to face Sunshine Coast Wanderers at Ballinger Park (4pm KO).
Speaking post-match, Olympic FC Head Coach said that overall his sides performance in Saturday’s match was really pleasing.
“We’re obviously very happy with the win in difficult conditions. Capalaba set up well, they were difficult to play against. The sending off definitely had an impact on how the game played out,” Cahn said.
“We had a lot of good passages before and after the card, some of the football was really pleasing, the boys kept believing in how we want to play and where we want our goals to come from. I was disappointed we didn’t finish off some really good moves in the first half but we got there in the end.
“There are certainly areas we need to improve moving forward in the season.”
Saturday’s match was Olympic’s first competitive match since March when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a halt. Cahn said his side were relieved to being back playing football.
“It’s been a tough time for everybody around the world, so we’re not taking for granted how lucky we are to be playing football. Other states don’t have that privilege at the moment. It’s important for us to remember that every time we step on the pitch, whether it be for training or games.”
“It’s well known that the club’s taken a bit of a hit. Our squad’s very thin at the moment but the ones that are here are a brilliant and working very hard for each other.
“We’ll try to strengthen before the window shuts to try to keep us competing at the top end, but we can’t match the other clubs financially and we accept that, so It’s a great challenge for our players and staff to test ourselves with limited resources and see if we’ve got the character to find ways to keep winning, which I believe we can,” Cahn concluded.
MATCH DETAILS
NPL Queensland 2020: Round 21 – Capalaba FC vs Olympic FC
John Fredericks Park, Capalaba
Saturday, 25 July
Capalaba FC – 0
Olympic FC – 4 (Costa PSAROS 72′, Daniel LECK 75′ 78′, Kristen WATERS 86′)
Olympic FC Team: 1. Lachlan HUNTER, 3. Tom AULTON (2. Shelford DAIS 62′), 7. Daniel LECK, 8. Kazuya ITO, 9. Olaide YINKA-KEHINDE (15. Kristen WATERS 78′), 10. Steve WHYTE, 11. Jez LOFTHOUSE (25. Tayte ALDRIDGE 87′), 12. Costa PSAROS (23. Prasiddha PAUDYAL 87′), 17. Danny DRIVER, 19. Jean-Philippe LASM, 20. Corey SEWELL
Unused substitutes: 36. Edward HOLMES