Report by Daryn McCleave

Balcatta fought back from a goal down to snatch a 2-1 win at Dalmatinac Park and book their spot in the NPL WA Finals series, leaving Cockburn's hopes of joining them hanging by a thread with just two rounds remaining.

Benny Kouakou was the star of the show for the visitors; his double coming after City had taken the lead through Ross Diamond's pile-driver.

City could not capitalise on Dejan Aleksic's heroics between the posts, the shot-stopper twice denying Carlo Coelho from the penalty spot, although Kouakou scored the rebound from the second effort.

Balcatta coach Ramon Falzon was pleased to have the finals spot wrapped up despite aiming for a top two finish and a "double chance", which although not out of reach, is unlikely with Perth SC five points ahead.

"We definitely need to win next week to be sure of third place and then we'll prepare (for the finals)," Falzon said.

"Cockburn created a lot of chances in the first half, but we settled better in the second and we created heaps of chances and we should have got a third. I'm disappointed we missed two penalties but at least we still managed to pick up the winner from the second one."

Cockburn boss Marc Anthony was unhappy the Balcatta winner was allowed to stand with Kouakou appearing to enter the area before the kick had been taken, giving him a huge advantage over the defence in the race to get to the loose ball.

"The boys have been great the last four or five weeks. It was disappointing we didn't play anywhere near as well as we can but the boy's miles in the box and these are the decisions that cost you games, and it has cost us a point if not three. At 1-1 we would have taken more chances to try and win it," he said.

Anthony refused to give up on the chase for the finals until it becomes mathematically impossible but it's looking a tall order with games fast running out.

It all looked to be going to plan for the hosts in the first half as they sought to extend their winning streak to six games, with David Arraya and Jesse Fuller both stinging the fingertips of visiting goalkeeper Clint Davies, and Aleksic superbly pushing out Coelho's penalty after the forward had been bundled over in the box.

On 27 minutes Diamond unleashed a shot from 30m, which appeared to swerve and deceive Davies on its way into the roof of the net to give the home side a deserved lead.

But this setback spurred on the visiting side and they equalised five minutes before the break, Kouakou applying a neat turn and finish across Aleksic following a low ball by Alex Caniglia from the left.

The second half was largely a scrappy affair with both midfields struggling to retain the ball, but it was Balcatta who looked the most likely to score, and the controversial winner arrived in the 64th minute following a clumsy challenge in the area by Euen Grant on Coelho.

After some debate on who should take it Coelho stepped up looking to make amends from his earlier miss, but he found Aleksic equal once again, only this time the Cockburn keeper could not get his block out of danger. Kouakou reached the ball first, found his feet and prodded home with the City bench outraged that referee Tim Mihevc had not spotted the infringement leading up to it.

The Cockerels could not find a response and their excellent winning run that has hauled them into finals contention came to a disappointing end.

COCKBURN CITY 1 (Diamond 27)
BALCATTA 2 (Kouakou 40, 64)
Saturday August 9, 2014
Dalmatinac Park
REFEREE: Tim MIHEVC
CROWD: 200 approx.

COCKBURN CITY: 23. Dejan ALEKSIC, 17. Paul NATALE (13. Blake ADAMS 46'), 4. Euen GRANT, 5. Alan CARROLL, 11. Devon GIBSON, 14. Conor KAVANGH, 8. David ARRAYA (16. Julien TELES 72'), 10. Matt BARLOW, 7. Jesse FULLER (12. Feisal ZAW 68'), 18. Monty GRIGO, 20. Ross DIAMOND.
SUBSTITUTES NOT USED: 1. Struan HERD, 3. Shazalee RAMLEE
YELLOW CARDS: Grant 64'

BALCATTA: 1. Clint DAVIES, 4. Kieron STALLARD, 5. Adam TONG, 7. James SAMMUT, 8. David CYRUS, 9. Carlo COELHO, 10. Kris GATE, 11. Alex CANIGLIA (6. Luke RANDAZZO 90'), 14. Benny KOUAKOU, 17. Kieran COLWELL, 19. Lawrence SHURUMA (15. Marc DE FRANCESCH 90+3')
SUBSTITUTES NOT USED: 21. Damien STANOEVSKI, 12. Matt BROOK, 13. Patrick SARA
YELLOW CARDS: Colwell 82'