Report by Kelechi Osunwa

Floreat Athena completed their first National Premier Leagues WA season with an empathic 4-1 victory over finals-bound Balcatta yesterday at E&D Litis Stadium.

Ludovic Boi’s calm finish cancelled out Benny Kouakou’s deflected opener in the first half but a flurry of goals from Ashley Corker, birthday boy Andrew Scaldaferro and Aryn Williams gave Athena the win to put an end to a frustrating stop-start season.

“We wanted to finish the league with a win so we can carry on next year,” Boi said.

“There were a lot of ups and downs this season. We’ve had issues with players coming in and out, coaches coming in and out so it’s not only been on the pitch but off the pitch as well.”

“(Today) we performed quite well. We had a lot of young boys out there. It’s the last game of the season and we can’t get into the top four so we gave a lot of the young boys a chance and they’ve stepped up.”

Benny Kouakou had opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a deflected shot after being played through by Catarcione.

Floreat were level just before half-time when Boi brought down a raking pass from Bobby Wilson and was fortunate to see the ball take a lucky bounce into his path after his darting run off the flank. There was nothing lucky about his finish as he calmly stroked it past the Balcatta custodian.

The home side took the lead midway through the second half when Corker bundled home after Boi's quick free kick caught the Balcatta defence napping. With Balcatta chasing the game, Floreat hit them on the counter twice in the space of two minutes to make the score 4-1.

Scaldaferro produced a diving header at the far post to make the score 3-1 before Williams rounded off the scoring when he brought down a lofted pass on his chest before lashing home from a tight angle.

Despite the result, Balcatta finished third behind runners up Perth SC and Premiers Bayswater City. Balcatta coach Ramon Falzon was pleased with the jump from tenth to third but conceded there was work to do.

“It’s a big step forward,” Falzon said. “Compared to last year, finishing third is good. It’s (a) big improvement from finishing 10th.

“We don’t have that winning mentality yet, that hunger that no matter what happens every week we want to win. Until we get that hunger and that winning mentality day in and day out in whatever we do we’re not going to win trophies.

“So it’s a good step forward compared to last year but we’re not done yet. We need to make a big step forward if we want to win trophies.”

Floreat Athena 4 (Boi 44’, Corker 72’, Scaldaferro 79’, Williams 80’)
Balcatta SC 1 (Kouakou 22’)
Saturday August 23, 2014
Venue: E&D Litis Stadium
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Matthew Southern
Assistant Referees: Stuart Blacker, Shane Skinner

Floreat Athena: 99. Yousri GHARASALLAH, 6. Cameron YORKE, 8. Bobby WILSON, 33. Mark WALSH, 2. Blair GOVAN, 3. Jack ALLEN, 14. Ludovic BOI, 10. Aryn WILLIAMS, 16. Ashley CORKER, 15. Andrew SCALDAFERRO, 12. Nicholas PSANOUDAKIS (9. Christopher RIZIDIS’ 69)
Substitutes not used: 1. Tom DIXON, 5. Rayhaan ADOLPHUS, 15. Jordan DOROPOOLOS, 18. Kye DOUGLAS
Yellow cards: Andrew Scadaferro 60’
Red cards: nil

Balcatta SC: 1. Clint DAVIES, 4. Alex SULESKI, 5. Adam TONG, 6. Luke RANDAZZO (16. Alex CANIGLIA 66’), 7. James SAMMUT, 8. David CYRUS, 10. Kris GATE (20. Lawrence SHURUMA 66’), 19. Gustavo CATARCIONE 14. Benny KOUAKOU (9. Carlo COELHO 70’), 15. Marc DE FRANCESCH, 17. Matt BROOK
Substitutes not used: 21. Damien STANOEVSKI, 13. Patrick SARA
 76,
Yellow Cards: James Sammut 51’
Red Cards: Nil