Report by Daryn McCleave

A 94th-minute winner from Ludovic Boi sent the majority of the crowd at Litis Stadium wild as Floreat Athena fought off Perth SC by the odd goal in seven.

Having led 3-1 at half-time, Athena found themselves level at 3-3 late on as the Azzurri grabbed two goals in sixty seconds to seemingly snatch an unlikely point.

But a goalkeeping howler from the otherwise excellent Alex Dunn gifted the home side a winner with almost the last kick of a thrilling contest under lights as Athena kept pace with PS4 National Premier Leagues WA leaders Bayswater City.

Despite almost throwing away two vital points, Athena coach Glen Grostate was delighted with the fight and heart his side showed, especially the players who came in from the reserves.

"We were five players down today but these boys work so hard for each other,” he said. “We looked at this game as a semi-final. We wanted to go into next week at Bayswater unbeaten.

"We look to get goals early and have teams chase us and then try and get them on the break. We're eight games unbeaten now and we haven't really had a full squad yet.”

Indeed, Athena came flying out the blocks, applying the early pressure which saw them awarded a penalty after five minutes for handball, perhaps somewhat fortuitously.

However Boi's spot kick, although powerful, lacked any real direction and Dunn did well to hold down to his left.

The breakthrough arrived on 12 minutes, Kris Gate was on the end of a defence-splitting pass before firing low across goal into the far corner.

The visitors levelled six minutes later when Mark Pritchard's curling free-kick caused chaos in the goalmouth and Floreat's Aryn Williams was unfortunate to be credited with the final touch as the ball ended up in the net.

Athena's lead was restored on 22 minutes as Boi found himself clear and he made no mistake, calmly slotting past Dunn to atone for the penalty miss.

And with three minutes remaining before the interval, Andrew Scaldaferro added a third with a low shot inside the box following a free-kick.

Perth needed a reaction after the break, and they were awarded a penalty after some hesitation from the referee, for handball.

Clark Keltie stepped up but could only strike the top of the crossbar and it appeared any hopes of a comeback had sailed high with the ball.

Both sides had half chances to score but the Azzurri stunned Athena in the 88th minute with two quick fire strikes.

Substitute Josh Pereira struck a low drive which took a slight deflection on its way into the net, before almost immediately after the re-start Pritchard grabbed the equaliser with a side-footed shot from 10m.

But the final say went to home skipper Boi -  who now has seven goals in his last three games - as he was the beneficiary of Dunn's error, keeping his composure to roll into an empty net despite the frantic efforts of the Perth defence.

Perth coach Taki Nicolaidis was bitterly disappointed at the final whistle, but admitted Floreat were by far the better team in the first half.

"But I need to praise our guys for rolling up their sleeves and digging in. At the end of the day, it's one bad error that's cost us," Nicolaidis said

"He's (Dunn) been fantastic all year. When a defender/goalkeeper makes a mistake it gets magnified. If a striker misses a sitter, it's bad luck and you move on. We all make mistakes and we have to move on."  

FLOREAT ATHENA 4 (Gate 12 mins, Boi 22, 90+4, Scaldaferro 42)
PERTH S.C 3 (Williams o.g 18, Pereira 88, Pritchard 89)
7pm, Saturday May 23, 2015
E & D Litis Stadium
Referee: Steven GREGORY

FLOREAT ATHENA: 23 (GK). Dejan ALEKSIC, 3. Jack ALLEN, 4. Aryn WILLIAMS, 5. Bobby WILSON (20. David STOKOE 90+2), 16. Vincent WIKTORA, 15. Greg HART (33. Andrew XYDAS 86'), 10. Andrew SCALDAFERRO, 11. Dennis GALAN, 12. Kris GATE, 14. Ludovic BOI,, 19. Steve BURTON.  
SUBSTITUTES NOT USED: 1. Nicholas FELEKIS, 13. Matt FRANKEN
YELLOW CARDS: Wilson 31', Galan 58'

PERTH SC: 1. Alex DUNN, 2. Joshua WILKINS, 3. David CYRUS (12. Marco SANTALUCIA 73'), 5. Dean EVANS, 6. Clark KELTIE, 8. Aden DA LUZ, 14. Mark PRITCHARD, 13. Rocco PIZZATA, 20. James MARROCHI, 16. Nicholas AMBROGIO (18. Josh PEREIRA 64'), 19. Andreas THEODOSIADES (10. Ashley ROSINDALE 30').
SUBSTITUTES NOT USED: 7. Carlo COELHO, 23. Francis SOALE
YELLOW CARDS: Evans 54' Marocchi 83'