Report by Bianca Niederberger

An early goal was not enough to invigorate Inglewood United at Intiga Stadium yesterday as Cockburn City cruised to a 4-1 win in the penultimate round of the NPL WA’s inaugural season.

With both teams out of contention for a top-four finish, Cockburn left the pitch with their heads held high after punishing Inglewood in the second half.

Inglewood’s only goal came as a result of a through ball from Andrija Jukic to Ryan Clarke, who ran on to beat Euen Grant and Blake Adams and, ultimately, keeper Dejan Aleksic.

Clarke continued to threaten and on numerous occasions was denied by Aleksic.

Despite the early set-back, Cockburn controlled the game and were in cruise control as they kept up the pressure and intensity.

Inglewood showed glimpses of cohesion but could not sustain their enthusiasm long enough to make an impact.

The equalizer came midway through the first half when Ross Diamond found himself alone with time and space to execute a confident strike from the edge of the box.

Inglewood squandered their chances and the lead as Cockburn surged forward in the second half, sealing the deal with three goals in the space of 20 minutes.

The fresh legs of Julien Teles, off the bench, delivered the first when he ran onto a ball from the midfield to challenge Luke Martino and slot it past the harried keeper.

The second came from a Conor Kavanagh corner, ideally measured to connect with defender Alan Carroll whose close range glancing header was too good for Martino.

And the third and final blow in injury time, was delivered by Matt Barlow, who had been hunting for a goal all day, with a simple tap in.

Cockburn City coach Marc Anthony said it was one of the best first-half performances he had seen from his team all season.

“We gave away a terrible goal after a minute but apart from that we were superb,” he said. “We were miles ahead of our opponents and we had six or seven good chances to score.

“We got the goal we deserved in the end and I just asked the boys to carry it on, which they did and I’m really, really happy.

Cockburn City 4 (Ross Diamond 25’, Julian Teles 74’, Alan Carroll 84’, Matt Barlow 90+2’)
Inglewood United 1 (Ryan Clarke 2’)
Sunday 17th August, 2014
Intiga Stadium
Attendance: approx. 120
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Matt Southern
Assistant Referees: Elliot Cirkovic, Alex Best 

INGLEWOOD UNITED: 1.LUKE MARTINO, 18. Jason COLLI, 4. Shane PICKERING, 5, Scott BLACKMORE, 9. Ryan CLARKE, 10. Greg SHARLAND, 23. Andrija JUKIC (3. Marc ELDRIDGE 76’), 6. Ryan FRANCIS, 8. David PERICH (20. Teeboy KAMARA 45’), 11. David SESAY (7. Matt DANSKIN 62’), 14. Jarrad McNALLY
Substitutes not used: 2. Joe PULLELLA, 22. Jake LUIK, (rgk)
Yellow cards: 18. Jason Colli 30’
Red cards: Nil

COCKBURN CITY: 23. DEjan ALEKSIC, 4. Euen GRANT (19. Jonty TURNER 84’), 5. Alan CARROLL, 7. Jesse FULLER, 14. Conor KAVANAGH, 10. Matt BARLOW, 13. Blake ADAMS, 8. David ARAYA (3. Shazalee RAMLEE 84’), 11. Devon GIBSON, 20. Ross DIAMOND (16. Julien TELES 68’), 12. Feisal ZAW
Substitutes not used: 1. Strung HERD, 6. Rory McGRATH
Yellow cards: 20. Ross DIAMOND 59’
Red cards: Nil