Bonnyrigg White Eagles topped Sydney Olympic 3-1 in a thrilling spectacle to kick off the Heritage Round.
The White Eagles grabbed the lead in the ninth minute when Dylan Fox found the back of the net.
Robbie Younis, man on the spot once more, made it two zip on the half hour mark when a slip in defence allowed the Bonnyrigg striker to get on the ball and plant a sweet left-foot shot past Henderson.
Although competitive, Olympic could have no complaints with the score line as Bonnyrigg certainly had the upper hand in this keenly contested battle of heavyweights.
The home side were out-muscling their counterparts and winning the important one on one clashes.
But it was game on when Olympic were awarded a penalty in the 38th minute after White Eagles skipper Chris Tadrosse was adjudged to have fouled Gaitatzis in the area and the striker duly stepped up to plant the ball past Chronopoulos.
Six minutes into the second-half and Olympic fell further behind when a Kokada shot took a heavy deflection off the defence to loop over the stranded Henderson and restore the two goal cushion for the home side.
Coach Brian Brown was happy to have collected the three valuable points.
“I always thought when third plays fourth in the competition it would be a tough game and where you had to be prepared to turn up and battle hard for the scraps.
“Our boys won the battle and created a lot of chances which was really pleasing and with the effort I got from the team tonight it was a real Bonnyrigg performance.
“Olympic are a very, very good team and that means our performance was far better than normal.
“We have some players to come back and the theory is it’s at the right time of the season but that doesn’t always work out but it will create the pressure for places and that is a good thing and that means we’ll get some hard training in this week and see who can make the team for our next game,” Brown said.
♦ In the other Saturday night Heritage Round match, the the Tigers ran riot in thumping Marconi. By the time they were finished Apia Leichhardt scored six goals in a ruthless display that saw them conceded just two to their traditional rivals.
Blake Powell’s phenomenal season continued, his two goals taking him to 20 for the season from only 14 appearances. If he doesn’t get picked up by a Hyundai A-League club on the back of this, there is something truly wrong.
Marc Warren, Nathan Millgate, Franco Parisi, and Nathan Elasi also found the back of the net, while Anthony Flood and Jacob Ott scored for Marconi.
