Words: Michael Flynn

Sam Cronin netted his second brace in four days as Olympic FC eased to a 5-2 win over Mitchelton FC in the BLK Silver Boot pre-season tournament on Tuesday.

Cronin’s haul was complemented by further first half goals for Luke Grillo and Youeil Shol, before Matt Gordan rounded out the result in the second half.

The win is Olympic’s first in the BLK Silver Boot this year and comes after recording a 6-1 win over Gold Coast City in the Macron Cup on Saturday.

Olympic dominated from the early exchanges and took the lead inside ten minutes from Grillo’s tap-in after the former Brisbane Roar Youth player was teed-up by solid build-up from Cronin.

Cronin then added his name to the score sheet with two goals in quick time – netting Olympic’s second with a full-blooded strike from 25 yards just after the quarter hour before rounding out his brace with a pin-point free-kick into the top corner.

The win was effectively wrapped up prior the break when Shol converted with a firmly struck finish into the roof of the net from inside the penalty box.

Mitchelton sought to restore respectability to the scoreline in the second stanza and – after earlier seeing a shot cleared off the line - pulled a goal back through Jason Shade’s header just before the hour.

However, Olympic remained in control and regained their four goal buffer only minutes later when Gordon complemented a sharp run with a composed finish on the angle across Mitchelton goalkeeper Kevin Downes.

There was still consolation for Mitchelton though as Jeremy Griffin headed in a consolation goal in the closing stages of the match.

Olympic continue their pre-season preparations on Saturday against fellow PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues club Moreton Bay United in the Macron Cup.

BLK Silver Boot 2016 – Group A
Tuesday, January 26
Lions Stadium, Brisbane

Mitchelton FC  2 (Jason SHADE 57’, Jeremy GRIFFIN 87')
Olympic FC  5 (Luke GRILLO 9’, Sam CRONIN 17’ 26’, Youeil SHOL 38’, Matt GORDON 65’)