Perth SC crashed out of the Australia Cup at Olympic Stadium on Saturday after a 4-2 loss to last year’s State Cup champions Olympic Kingsway.
A hat-trick to young striker Joe Hobson and an own goal deflected in by Azzurri defender Sammie Riak did the damage in just over an hour. Josh Cala and David Ninkovich got two late consolation goals to make the score a bit more respectable.
But it was Olympic’s day and they took the lead in the 9th minute, when Hobson pounced on an errant pass by Riak to fire past Perth SC keeper Mark Birighitti.
The home side doubled the advantage in the 32nd minute when a cross from the right hand side by Tyler Garner was deflected in by an unlucky Riak.
A first half injury to Kiwi defender Kurtis Mogg made the task even more difficult for the Azzurri, but it was not all one-way traffic.
Ethan Banks forced a good save from Olympic keeper Adrian Sinagra in the 35th minute and some good work from Ninkovich on the right just before half-time delivered a great ball in for Gordon Perkins who couldn’t quite get his head to the cross. Perkins also tested Sinagra deep into first-half injury time with a snapshot in the box.
The Azzurri had a great chance to pull one back in the 55th minute when Banks’ cross from the right found substitute Daniel Faichney at the far post, but he could only direct his strike across the face of goal.
The game was then done and dusted as a contest a couple of minutes later. Riak lost the ball to Olympic midfielder Laat Manyec who was then fouled by Sean O’Connor on his way to goal. Hobson tucked away the resulting penalty to put Olympic up 3-0.
Olympic ramped up the pressure and it looked like things could get embarrassing for the Azzurri. Birighitti saved well from Hobson, Harley Orr shot just wide and Lebib Lebib hit the post all in the space of five minutes.
Hobson completed his hat-trick in the 79th minute when he tapped in from close range after Birighitti did well to save Tyler Garner’s effort.
Cala pulled one back with an excellent solo effort two minutes later before Ninkovich also scored a cracking goal when he finished off a cross from Faichney on the left.
It was all too late for the Azzurri, who were bundled out of the cup for the second consecutive season by Olympic.
The boys can now focus on the league season, with a Friday night fixture at Dorrien Gardens up next against the Western Knights.