Dynamic Olympic FC winger won’t confuse his loyalties this weekend against NPL NSW Premier Sydney United 58 FC, despite originally hailing from south of the Tweed border.

A Lennox Head native, Ingham played junior football in Northern New South Wales before finding his opportunity in Brisbane with Southern Cross United, Mt Gravatt Hawks and Logan United before grabbing his opportunity with Olympic FC in this year’s National Premier Leagues.

Following a stand-out season on the right wing for the NPL Queensladn Premiers, Ingham said he was looking forward to representing Olympic this Saturday night against United, admitting the competition in the Sunshine State had had a huge influence on his game.

“I didn’t really play that much senior football in New South Wales at all, mainly juniors,” Ingham said.

“This was the best comp around in Queensland, it’s a two hour drive but if I had wanted to play a good comp down south, well it was 10 hours.”

“My dad was driving me up every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, it was a pretty big commitment,” he explained further.

Ingham has been a revelation in this year’s NPL, scoring 14 goals on the as part of an attacking triumvirate that also includes ex Liverpool FC youth player Danny Byrne and former Brisbane Roar marksman Tim Smits.

Ingham said United were in for a torrid time should the trio fire on match day.

“If we are all on the same page on the day, we can cause a lot of damage. If we do that then we can beat them.”

“They are one of the bigger clubs in Sydney and we want to go up the ranks a bit ourselves and put our name out there, so if we can win and go on to the next stage it would be fantastic for the club.”

The 20 year old however wasn’t discounting the quality in United’s playing stocks, including former A-League striker Luka Glavas, who surpassed Graham Arnold’s all-time goal-scoring record for the club this season.

“Our coaches have been saying they have a very good forward line – quick and sharp – so we got to do well in defence, which is something we haven’t done lately,” Ingham conceded.

“It’s such a strong comp in Sydney, this year there were four or five very good teams,” he continued

“United lost their state semi-final, which would’ve brought them down a bit, but after beating Canberra FC they will be back on a high to be fair.”

Ingham also suggested Olympic’s nail-biting penalty shoot-out win over Brisbane City in the NPL Queensland Grand Final would hold them in good stead in Saturday’s do-or-die clash.

“What we’ve been taught is to never give up. Even at 2-0 down we never gave up, we made some subs, got some fresh legs on and we got back on a roll.”

Despite not playing on their Goodwin Park home ground for the clash, Ingham said QSAC would be just as good provided the local football community turn out to support.

“It will make a massive difference if we can get a good crowd out there,” Ingham said.

“The ground’s just been relaid and we like to play football. So if we can get the ball down, well the surface is that good that if we stay on the same page then we can match them across the park.”

Match details:

NATIONAL PREMIER LEAGUES FINALS SERIES – SEMI FINAL
Olympic FC (Premiers - NPL Queensland) v Sydney United 58 FC (Premiers -NPL New South Wales)
Saturday, 5^th October, 2013 – QSAC
Kick-off: 6:00pm

 

Words: Michael Flynn (Football Queensland)
Image: Nick Milton