Wollongong Olympic nab a crucial victory over Wollongong United in the race for the Illawarra Premier League minor premiership

Wollongong Olympic coach Matt Bailey was thrilled to see his side playing the football they have been trying to produce all season with the side shaking up the Illawarra Premier League minor premiership race with a 1-0 win over rivals Wollongong United at a wet and windy PCYC on Saturday.

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After today's result, Wollongong United still sit first with a points-per-game average of 2.36. Olympic sit in second with a 2.13 PPG average per the restructured IPL ladder format.

The match was a far cry from last year's nine goal thriller, but had an incredible intensity throughout, with neither team wanting to lose. There was a number of crunching tackles and a few altercations which made things spicy.

Chances were few and far between for both sides, with set-pieces the best bet.

The deadlock was broken midway through the second half when Olympic took a quick corner, which saw Rick Goodchild whip in a ball to the back post which found the head of one of the side's newest signings, Jake Trew.

In a tense finish to the game, Olympic held on through a barrage of United set-pieces and came away with the win.

Bailey said he was incredibly pleased with the result and the performance of the match-winner Trew.

"He's a fantastic kid," he said.

"His work rate is really good and he has played at a good level. Unfortunately he has been exposed to a couple of injuries in the last couple of years but he's back now and has scored some really important goals for us.

"He was one of many [good performances] today."

Bailey said he was happy with how his team performed on the field and said he thinks things are clicking at the right time of the season.

"That was a really tough contest today with so much at stake," he said.

"I think the first half we really set the platform for what was the victory in the end. The end result was the right one. We've talked about that momentum coming into this time of the year for some time now.

"The league championship is a massive objective for us and then building that momentum into the finals is key," Bailey said.

United coach Billy Tsovolos said it was a game that he felt his side weren't at their best.

"I don't know if it was a game we deserved to lose but it's a game we didn't deserve to win," he said.

"When you don't play well enough to go an win the game, luck can take a part. I thought it [the goal] was poor off the set-piece and we weren't paying attention and then something like that can happen and then you lose. We've just got to get better and hopefully pick up three points next week."

Tsovolos added the result would not affect the confidence of the playing group coming into the final part of the campaign.

"They [the team] will be alright. We'll get back into training as normal and we've got a big game against Coniston on Friday and we'll go from there."

With just two games to play, leaders United finish the season with two Friday night games at Macedonia Park against Coniston and Cringila.

As for Olympic, they play third-placed Bulli away from home in what promises to be a massive contest at Balls Paddock, followed by a trip to Wetherall Park to face Port Kembla.

In other IPL results over the weekend, Coniston and Cringila played out a 2-all draw on Friday, whilst on Saturday Corrimal and South Coast United played out a scoreless draw, Bulli beat Albion Park 2-0. Tarrawanna and Port Kembla's match was postponed.

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