By Bianca Niederberger

Inglewood United suffered a hangover of sorts but still managed to put four goals past bottom side Subiaco in a scrappy 4-0 National Premier Leagues WA win at Intiga Stadium yesterday.

Ryan Clarke, David Sesay, Sean Browne and Andrija Jukic each contributed to the disparate score line, which did not necessarily reflect the quality of Inglewood’s game.

Coach Graham Normanton conceded his side had not been at their best probably as a result of the effort put into last week’s Cool Ridge Cup match against high-flying Bayswater City.

“We didn’t play as well as we could but that’s always going to be the case after playing such an intense game last week and then coming up against the bottom club this week,” said Normanton, whose side pushed Bayswater to the wire in last week’s quarter-final before losing on penalties.

“We know it’s always going to be a difficult game against the lower teams. They always come in and scrap and they work their backsides off. That’s one thing they’ve got in their favour is that work rate and work ethic but I feel we handled it well. I didn’t feel in any danger in the whole game.”

Although Subiaco were coming off a quarter-finals win over Cockburn City, they are still searching for their first win in the NPL WA.

They came out swinging against - with decent performances from Alex Randell, Jonas Dorling and Phil O’Callaghan – but could not find a way through the Inglewood defence.

Inglewood threw down the challenge early on when Clarke found the net with a sixth-minute penalty, his composed strike gliding past the gloves of Henry Davies.

As the hosts continued to build pressure with Sesay and Teeboy Kamara combining, accuracy and timing became a recurring problem. Sesay was eventually rewarded for persistence, scoring from his second touch off a deflection from another Clarke attempt.

Inglewood’s Scott Blackmore and Shane Pickering ensured Subiaco struggled to get anywhere near their goal. The best they could do was fire off infrequent, long-range attempts without success. Subiaco did, however, do well to deny the tenacious efforts of Kamara and Sesay.

Inglewood took it up a notch from the 65th minute with a charge led from the midfield by captain Jukic and Ryan Francis working the ball forward. Sesay featured again in Inglewood’s third goal with a pass from the right wing to substitute Browne, who tapped it home.

While Kamara continued to struggle with timing and touch, Subiaco defended desperately and courageously. It could, and should, have been so much worse.

Jukic came to the Inglewood party with his goal in the dying minute of the game. His good touch and positioning allowed him to make the most of another deflection off keeper Davies.
Normanton has no doubt about how to keep up his side’s current momentum, claiming: “We’ll pretend we’re playing Bayswater every week.”

“We’re a team that’s getting better and better and we’re currently now sitting at eight games undefeated. We’ve got to be happy with that and we’ll keep improving.”

Inglewood United 4
Subiaco 0
Saturday 17th May, 2014
Intiga Stadium
Attendance: 80 approx
Kick Off: 3:00pm

Inglewood United: 1. Luke MARTINO, 4. Shane PICKERING, 5. Scott BLACKMORE, 6. Ryan FRANCIS, 7. Matt DANSKIN (2. Joe PULLELLA 59’), 8. David PERICH (16. Sean Browne 79’), 9. Ryan CLARKE (15. Abdul SESAY 68’), 11. David SESAY, 18. Jason COLLI, 20. Teeboy KAMARA ,23. Andrija JUKIC

Substitutes not used: 22. Mitchell PAPAS (RGK), , 14. Jarrod McNALLY, 
Yellow cards: Teeboy KAMARA 7’,David SESAY 40’
Red cards: Nil

Subiaco: 1. Henry DAVIES, 3. Rowdy YATES, 4. Alex RANDELL (9. Tas MITAROS 68’), 6. Brad McDONALD, 7. Ger FITZGERALD, 8. Jordan RHODES, 10. Guy McDONALD, 12. Mitch STEINBERG, 13. Jonas DORLING, 15. Laurence CAUGHAN (14. Josh BOOYSEN 11’), 16. Phil O’CALLLAGHAN (5. Pat MORRISON 79’)

Substitutes not used:, 11. Matt AKEHURST, 21. Jack HOWARD
Yellow cards: Ger FITZGERLAD 70’, Alex RANDELL 47’
Red cards: Nil