Sutherland were unable to send veteran goalkeeper Nathan Denham out with a win on Sunday as the Sharks ended a disappointing NPL 1 season with a 2-1 loss to Sydney Olympic.
Denham announced his retirement last week and Sutherland got his farewell off to the perfect start at Seymour Shaw Park as Nathan Elasi gave the Sharks an early lead.
But Mitchell Stamatellis equalised from the spot for Olympic 10 minutes after half-time when Sutherland defender Takuya Murayama handled the ball before Nikolas Tsattalios lashed home a winner 15 minutes from full-time.
Sharks striker Tomohiro Kajiyama finished the season with the NPL 1 golden boot, with his 13 goals making him the league’s top scorer despite Sutherland finishing 10th.
Sutherland’s under-20s side finished as premiers and will enjoy this weekend off before playing their major semi-final at Lambert Park next Sunday.
Sharks coach Grant Lee was disappointed with his side’s second half display but remained optimistic about the Sharks’ chances next season.
“You’ve got to contain and frustrate Olympic and I think we did really well for long spells of the game,” he said.
“There’s good young kids who are working really hard to change our position but we’re probably lacking that little bit of experience and therefore continue to make poor decisions at critical moments.
“We need a key number of players that will help lead the younger kids round the park. We’re making a few poor decisions at critical moments and if we have those more experienced players around it will stop those things from happening.”
