Words: Matt Dorman, Olympic FC
Image: Ian Judd, Football Brisbane

Olympic FC moved within two matches of an FFA Cup Round of 32 berth, having overwhelmed Centenary Stormers 6-0 in Round 5 of the Football Queensland Cup on Wednesday night.

A Ryan Roderick double and further goals from Matt Mundy, Darren Gray, Matt Byrne and Jake McLean sealed the rout at Darra’s Atthows Park as the NPL Queensland champions survived their first knockout hurdle.

The visitors entered the match at near full-strength – without the services of only Terry Hughes and Kazuya Ito – but lost in-form attacker Reuben Way early to an ankle knock, allowing Roderick an early chance from the bench.

The young winger made an almost immediate impact as, despite being competitive in the early exchanges, the lower-division Stormers quickly found themselves 2-0 behind.

Roderick first opened the scoring when he drove into space from a switch of play and finishing with aplomb, before repeating the feat on the very next attack by latching on to Tim Smits’ clever header and again keeping cool in front of goal.

Incredibly, he might then have had a third in as many minutes but finished over the crossbar after again finding space on the left-wing.

The miss made little difference, though, as Olympic pressed on in the first-half to ensure there would be no upset, plundering three further goals from Gray, Mundy via the penalty spot and Byrne.

Though Brandon Cuminao was called upon to make a trio of classy saves throughout the opening period, the 5-0 scoreline at the break virtually secured the result.

Centenary, having already performed admirably in the knockout competition, further enhanced their reputation following the restart with a competitive second 45 minutes.

Both Cuminao and his replacement Ryan Meskell were both called into action, while fellow Olympic substitute Joey Field came close at the other end as a fingertip save pushed his effort around the post.

However, the home side’s persistence went unrewarded as Olympic midfielder Jake McLean saved the finest goal for last – deftly lifting a perfectly weighted lob over the ‘keeper to make it 6-0 inside the final 10 minutes.

Victory means the reigning state Premiers and Champions join Brisbane Strikers as the only two Brisbane-based NPL Queensland clubs remaining in the Canale Travel Cup draw, which doubles as the capital’s qualifying zone of the Football Queensland Cup.

Two further wins will seal Olympic FC’s place in the nationwide FFA Cup.