Weston Bears end 2022 with narrow defeat by Olympic

Perhaps fittingly for a season so disrupted by wet weather, the game was the catch-up of their round one clash and played in wet conditions.

For the Bears, dreams of finals football were extinguished after a mid-season revival of four straight victories was followed by a horror run of four straight defeats.

The win earned Olympic fifth place on the ladder and they will meet Charlestown Azzurri in the elimination final next Saturday.

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The hosts had the early running on a blustery, drizzling afternoon, threatening in the fifth minute as Chan Yelchan latched on to a deep corner and drilled a vicious low attempt that drew a smart save from Stuart Plant.

His side-footed effort three minutes later lacked the same venom and proved simple for Plant to deal with.

The absence of skipper and club legend Nathan Morris through injury had left a sizeable gulf both in the heart of defence and the heart of the Bears as a unit.

Chris Hurley would be the man to take up the mantle on both fronts, and to his credit he would perform each role with aplomb.

An early injury to midfield talisman Cooper Buswell would not help matters for the visitors, replaced by youngster Lukas Straker after just 14 minutes of football.

The Bears fashioned their first chance of note in the 17th minute, Ben Clouten delivering a corner to the front post to the head of Hayden Harris whose attempt finished only just wide.

Clouten's enterprise off the ball was irrepressible; a bustling presence in midfield, his proactivity to win back possession provided Olympic with more than a few headaches and persistently hurrying his marker.

The Bears had stemmed the early flow of momentum in the other direction, and for the better part of the next 20 minutes, the match took on a much cagier complexion, largely fought in midfield, with the dour atmospheric conditions no doubt contributing to the reduction in attacking output.

he centre of the park was now noticeably pocked and the constant bobbling of the ball proved an indomitable foil to a free-flowing passing game.

A soft penalty shout as Muller went down in the box under minimal contact from Hurley went justifiably unpunished in the 39th minute, but it appeared to spring the match back into life

Yelchan made his way into the six-yard box shortly afterwards only for his full stretch prod to be denied by a crucial goal-line clearance from Joey O'Connor, before a Muller chip into the mixer in the 40th minute took an unfortunate deflection off the back of a retreating Harris.

The somewhat fortuitous bounce sat up nicely for ex-Bear Jackson Burston, who profited from the opportunity to convert a simple close-range tap-in past Plant.

Both teams had chances, but it remained the only goal and as Olympic fans celebrated the Bears finished the season eighth and looking ahead to season 2023, when decorated manager Kew Jaliens will return to the fold.