Bens defeated by Olympia

Old Bens were defeated 4-3 in their ELFA Super League seniors division two match by their Bedfordview opponents in an intense game where some of the officiating was called into question.

Olympia took the early lead and scored from a quick throw-in.

Following the goal, Bens looked dangerous at times, with John Wilson’s trickery on the right wing proving difficult for the Olympia defenders.

The home team equalised from a header when Brandon Stringer latched onto a Wilson free kick.

The opposition scored late on in the first half, through a goal that appeared to be offside to take the scores to 2-1 after the first 45 minutes.

In the second stanza Old Bens first team coach, Dave Clark, brought on Ludick Malele who came on and found the net to level the score.

This relief was short-lived though, as Olympia scored a third shortly after.

Olympia bagged a fourth goal and made the task even more difficult for their Benoni counterparts.

The fact that two Old Bens players were sent off for dissent further added to the team’s woes, however, as the game neared conclusion, Thami Sekala pounced on an excellent cross from a Shaun Francis wide free kick, to give the nine-man Bens team some sort of hope.

The team attacked well, but could not find the fourth goal in the dying stages of the match.

According to Clark, his players were quite adamant that two of the opposition’s goals were scored from offside positions.

“I hate to blame others for our downfalls but some of the calls from the officials were quite bad.

“Some of the tackles from behind were quite brutal and players were getting away with bad tackles time after time,” he said.

“The game itself was actually very competitive and played in good spirit between the players, but the quality of some of the officials’ decisions left a lot to be desired.”