Report by Chris Andrawes

Inglewood United coach Graham Normanton was left fuming after his side was held to a 0-0 draw against a 10-man Cockburn City at Dalmatinac Park.

Normanton gave his side a dressing down in the centre circle after the final whistle before branding the game as “the worst performance of the season”.

Pictured: Cockburn's Devon Gibson takes on the Inglewood defence. Photo: Chris Andrawes.

Inglewood looked to be the more likely winners after Cockburn were controversially reduced to 10 men in the 19th minute.

David Sesay rounded his man brilliantly, forcing Cockburn’s Ross Diamond to trip Sesay to stop him getting into the box. The referee immediately deemed the professional foul as a straight red card, despite the foul occurring on the wing with Cockburn having plenty of cover in the box.

The game saw very few chances throughout with Cockburn struggling to get out of their own half and Inglewood struggling to put passes together, which Normanton lamented after the game.

“It was disjointed and there was a lack of application, I don’t really know why they decided to play like that,” he said.

“I’m not stupid enough to think that we can play well every week, but the difference between our best performance and our worst can’t be a massive gap like it is at the moment.”

The chances finally started to come with 10 minutes to go as Cockburn almost stole the win, with Liam Murray’s sensational control then volley striking the bottom of the crossbar before bouncing out.

Cockburn coach Marc Anthony was left to rue the missed chance, but felt his side had performed well considering the circumstances.

“It was a great touch from Liam, he’s been a different class for us in the last few games…he deserved a goal for his work rate,” he said.

“Sometimes you get the rub of the green, but it’s come off the bar and gone the other way. I thought we were the better side. We were better before the red card and I thought we were better after it.

“I’m disappointed we got a man sent off so early, because I think with eleven on the park we would’ve been even better.”

The late chance for Cockburn seemed to awaken Inglewood slightly as they created two golden opportunities.

The first fell to substitute Jarrod McNally, who was put through against the keeper with his first involvement in the game. However as he went to execute the finish, he seemed to almost completely miss the ball, which rolled a long way wide.

Inglewood’s second golden opportunity fell to former Perth Glory player Andrija Jukic, who saw the ball cut back to him at the penalty spot and with all the time in the world put his shot well over the crossbar, leaving Normanton raging on the sideline.
“Those chances should’ve been taken,” Normanton said. “But once again, it was probably indicative of our game and it just wasn’t good enough.

“It was the worst performance of the season, and the frustrating part is that we work hard at our game in training. We don’t just throw the team on there and say right lads go out and play, we work hard at our structure and our philosophy. So for the players to go out and perform like that is really disappointing.

“We didn’t deserve to win today, it doesn’t matter how many players they had, they could’ve had eight and we wouldn’t have deserved to win. We’re good enough to bounce back from this, and we have to bounce back from this.”

Cockburn City 0
Inglewood United 0
Saturday 24th May 2014
Dalmatinac Park
Kick-off: 3:00pm

Cockburn City: 2. Oscar THOMPSON, 4. Euen GRANT (6. Papar KAPTAR 70’), 5. Alan CARROLL, 8. David ARRAYAN, 9. Eamon MCNELIS, 11. Devon GIBSON (16. Julien TELES 89’), 17. Paul NATALE, 18. Liam MURRAY, 20. Ross DIAMOND, 21. Jesse FULLER (7. Ryan HASLETT 82’), 23. Dejan ALEKSIC

Substitutes not used: 1. Struan HERD, 19. Jonty TURNER
Yellow cards: Arrayan 87’
Red cards: Diamond 19’

Inglewood United: 1. Luke MARTINO, 2. Joe PULLELLA, 4. Shane PICKERING, 5. Scott BLACKMORE, 6. Ryan FRANCIS (16. Sean BROWNE 61’), 8. David PERICH, 9. Ryan CLARKE, 11. David SESAY, 18. Jason COLLI (15. Abdul SESAY 53’), 20. Teeboy KAMARA (14. Jarrod McNALLY 78’), 23. Andrija JUKIC

Substitutes not used: 22. Jake LUIK, 17. Dejan ANDRIC
Yellow cards: nil
Red cards: nil