Alasdair Beer
Pictured: Sorrento coach Jamie Harnwell. Photo: Football West News

Coach Jamie Harnwell says Sorrento have tremendous self-belief heading into this week’s game against Armadale at Percy Doyle Reserve.

The Gulls have scored upset wins in their past two matches, beating Floreat 3-1 away in the PS4 National Premier Leagues before knocking champions Bayswater City out of the Westfield FFA Cup on penalties last week.

Former Perth Glory captain Harnwell said his players were excited by the prospect of playing interstate in the next round of the cup.

“It’s something I experienced as a player and something a lot of the Sorrento boys haven’t done,” he said.

“It would be great to get that chance to travel, to play away, to stay at a hotel.”

Pictured: Scott Bulloch in action. Photo: Vince Caratozzolo.

And, far from encouraging complacency, Harnwell feels the club’s cup campaign will keep his players focused on their NPL performance.

“They’ll be focused, obviously there’s places up for grabs to play in the FFA Cup,” he said.

“If they’re performing poorly in the league then they’re not going to get a chance to play in the cup.”

Sorrento currently sit seventh on the NPL ladder, but Harnwell hopes to see improvement in the second half of the season.

“We’d like to get up into the top four – we certainly don’t think of ourselves as a seventh-placed side,” he said.

Visitors Armadale are similarly confident after recording their first win of the season 3-1 away to Balcatta in the last round of fixtures.

Armadale coach Paul Price described the result as “a monkey off everybody’s back.”

Price coached Sorrento to the 2012 NPL title, and is facing them for the first time in his Armadale tenure.

“I still have a lot of friends there (at Sorrento),” Price said.

Price was wary of the aerial threat his former side posed Armadale’s young defence.

“Sorrento have quite a few players like (Steve) McDonald and (Sean) Canham who are particularly good in the air,” he said.

“If we play as well as we did against Balcatta, hopefully we’ll have a chance.”

Harnwell said he was comfortable with being favourites for the game, but expected Armadale to be dangerous.

“We expect they’ll definitely be up for it and make it difficult for us,” he said.

“We fancy ourselves against every team we play - we’ve shown that by getting over Bayswater and Floreat.”

This week’s other notable fixtures are Inglewood United, who will attempt to extend their four-game winning streak, away to Cockburn City, whilst Subiaco take on Bayswater buoyed by their injury-time winner over third-placed Perth in the last round.

NPL transfer window signings
Armadale: Luke Radonich; Alex Costiello; Matthew Allen; Anthony Skorich; David Price; Jesse Fuller.
Balcatta: Jordan Colasante; Daniel Passarelli; Zelfy Nazary; Hassan Elyassiri; Steve Sokol; Jackson Amosa; Carmelo Giuffre; Ross Diamond.
Bayswater City: Adam Tong.
Cockburn City: Guy Kalma; Daniel Robinson; Daniel Bryant; Sam Garces.
ECU Joondalup: Kye Douglas; Ben Wantee; Ollie Annis; Harry Bissett; Ryan McDarby; Cian Hirrell; Phil O’Callanhan.
Floreat Athena: Fraser Greenwood; Phillip Arnold; Jon Stynes; Nicholas Psanoudakis.
Inglewood United:  Mohamed Awad; David Panaia; Brian Woodall; Jordan Howell; Endalk Achamyeleh; Milan Ognejnovic; Paul Zimmerino.
Perth SC: Frank Furfaro.
Perth Glory: Jack Oldham; Nikola Talimdzioski.
Sorrento: Jordan Blank; Scott Hoyle; Scott Bulloch.
Stirling Lions: Shane Malcolm; Million Butshiire; Robert Mariano; Alen Patarov.
Subiaco: Matt Steffenson; Gojam Bany; Owen Coates.