Repot by Jayden Lihou

Cockburn City’s goalkeeper Ryan Barker ensured Floreat Athena would settle for a 1-1 draw in his debut appearance at E&D Litis Stadium on Saturday.

Barker’s acrobatics late in the second period prevented his opponents from finding a winner.

Cockburn coach Scott Miller praised his goalkeeper’s performance in what he thought was a fair result.

“Debut for Ryan today, it was his first game for us in the first team and he was outstanding,” he said.

“I thought we were very good in the first half and then Floreat put us under a massive amount of pressure in the second but I’m really happy that we held on for the point.

“Floreat are very good from set pieces so they obviously used that to their advantage but unfortunately we can’t make our boys grow any taller.”

Floreat created the first opportunity when Andrew Scaldaferro squared it across to Phillip Arnold whose shot dribbled past a post and out of play.

Cockburn took the lead on the brink of half time, partly thanks to a free-kick from Cameron Edwards.

Edwards whipped the ball into the box spurring a punch from Floreat’s Dejan Aleksic which found its way to Julian Teles who made no mistake.

Floreat were denied an equaliser early in the second period after a Clayton Arnez corner found Arnold whose shot was touched over the bar by Barker.

Arnold was at it again in the 64th minute when his back-heel attempt from a low cross was just wide.

Floreat drew level when a corner from substitute Robert Gaspar found Bobby Wilson who headed the ball home in the 74th minute.

Wilson was unlucky not to have his second when his goal-bound shot inside the box hit a teammate who was standing in an offside position.

Despite numerous corners from Floreat in eight minutes of stoppage time, the home side couldn’t find a winner as Barker made multiple saves, keeping the final score locked at 1-1.

Floreat coach Glen Grostate admitted he was pleased with his team’s second half performance despite not being able to find a winner.

“I think we completely dominated the second half today, the ball was in our attacking half most of the time and we controlled the game really well.

“I really thought that we could have gotten the win, in the last half an hour their keeper made four or five saves including a one handed save over the bar in the final kick of the game.

“It was really hard for us to concentrate today to be honest because we had one eye on Monday’s FFA Cup game.

“So we have to make sure that we are switched on in 48 hours in a big game against Inglewood.”

Floreat Athena 1 (Wilson 75min)
Cockburn City 1 (Teles 45min)
Saturday, June 4, 2016
E&D Litis Stadium
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Daniel Cole
Assistant referees: Callum Haddow, Matthew Southern

Floreat Athena: 2. Kye DOUGLAS, 3. Blair GOVAN, 4. Andrew SCALDAFERRO, 5. Bobby WILSON, 6. Clayton ARNEZ (13. Aaron DELANY 61’), 8. Jonathan STYNES, 10. Kris GATE (20. Robert GASPAR 56’), 11. Dennis GALAN, 18. Phillip ARNOLD, 19. Lewis MCMAHON (14. Ludovic BOI 56’), 23. Dejan ALEKSIC
Substitutes not used: 1. Jason SALDARIS, 16. Derrick DATA
Yellow cards: Douglas 67’, Arnold 87’
Red cards: nil

Cockburn City: 6. Reuben TRISTAO, 7. Ali GHOLAMI, 8. Cameron EDWARDS, 10. David ARAYA (3. Nathan DE ABREU), 13. Blake ADAMS, 14. Julian TELES (19. Angel ANDRES 69’), 16. Daniel DOLS, 17. Jesse LAZZARO, 18. Aden DA LUZ (11. Harry O’BRIEN 49’), 20. Kenal MOUITHYS, 23. Ryan BARKER
Subs not used: 1. Ben RADONICH, 4. Brandon DE ABREU
Yellow cards: Araya 39’, Mouithys 53’, Dols 67’
Red cards: nil