Words: Michael Flynn
Image: Anthony Napoli/Brisbane City FC

Olympic FC extended rivals Brisbane City’s early season woes on Friday night, fighting back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Corporate Travel Management Stadium.

Antonio Murray put City ahead only minutes into the contest before Olympic consigned the hosts to their fifth defeat of the season courtesy of goals from Rhys Meredith, Kazuya Ito and Tim Smits.

Playing their first match under interim coach Darron Heselden, City made the perfect start on seven minutes when Murray headed home his first goal of the PlayStation® 4 NPL Queensland 2015 campaign.

However, Olympic soon wrested the initiative with Smits forcing a solid save from City shot-stopper Matt Stein on the quarter hour.

Smits teed-up Michael Lee midway through the half only for Stein to again prove up to task before Costa Psaros saw his shot cleared off the goal line by Koh Satake only minutes later.

Olympic finally found the back of the net just prior to the interval - Meredith tucking home his shot at the far post to ensure the side’s made the turn on level terms.

The visitors came out firing after the restart and stunned their traditional cross-town rivals with two goals in five minutes.

On 48 minutes, Ito beat Stein at his near post after being picked out by Danny Byrne’s pass.

Two minutes later Smits delivered a stunning looped header from the edge of the 18-yard-box to double the advantage.

City sought to get back into the contest as Murray and Nick Buckley both forced Olympic custodian Matt Acton to make telling saves.

Further frustration followed for the hosts with Satake doing well to round Acton and steer home into an empty net, only to see the goal disallowed for offside.

From there clear-cut scoring opportunities proved more elusive until the closing stages - Sam Cronin shooting just across the face of goal for Olympic before Murray saw his shot blocked on the goal-line amidst a goal mouth scramble.

Speaking post-match Olympic midfielder Darren Gray said momentum was building within the side after recording a third straight win and moving third in the standings.

“We’re confident now. We started the season poorly considering how we started the pre-season but the boys are very confident, training has been good and we’re very happy with how we’re progressing now.”

Heselden praised his players response to the recent changes at City since the pre-Easter departure of former coach Glen Volker.

“We’re in a rebuilding stage obviously and we deconstructed the way (the team) used to play and we brought in a lot of new areas, roles and responsibilities with what the players are supposed to do and I think the players responded well,” Heselden explained.

Listen to the full post-match interview below.

Brisbane City FC  1 (Antonio MURRAY 7’)
Olympic FC  3 (Rhys MEREDITH 42’, Kazuya ITO 48’, Tim SMITS 50’)