Report by Blayne Treadgold

Two second half goals from Sorrento striker Scott Bulloch ensured Sorrento came away with a solid 3-0 win over a youthful Balcatta side on Saturday at Grindleford Reserve.

Bulloch found himself unmarked in the box on both occasions for his goals, the first assisted by a header flicked on by team mate Sean Canham and the second just two minutes later from a beautiful diagonal ball played through by Sam Byles.

Bulloch was delighted with his side’s patient display.

“It’s been like that all year, we’ve ground out the first half and tried to wear teams down….. In the second half it opened up a little bit,” Bulloch said.

“Teams get desperate, once it opens up we know we’ve got the players to score goals,” he said.

He also paid tribute to Sean Canham and other team mates, who have forged brilliant scoring relationships so far this season helping Sorrento to a goal difference of +20 after 14 rounds.

“I know it burns him (Canham) whenever he sets me up,” Bulloch joked.

“Add Reece Vittiglia and we’ve got a really good front three, add Alex Morgan and Scott Witschge and we’ve got a really good front five,” he said.

It was a strong start to the match with both sides creating chances, but it was a Timothy Hill header off a purposeful cross by Alex Morgan in the 17th minute which opened the scoring for Sorrento.

Balcatta had chances of their own to equalise towards the end of the first half with a deflected shot which left goal keeper James Morgan scrambling and a Luccas Mello strike the crashed into the post.
 
Bulloch shone in the second half scoring two goals in a matter of minutes to seal the points for Sorrento.

Despite the result, Balcatta coach Salv Todaro was proud of his young team after wholesale changes were made to his side from previous weeks.

“I thought for 75 minutes, we were still in it at only 1-0….the young boys that came in did quite well,”
Todaro said.

“The last 15 minutes their (Sorrento) quality showed….two really good goals and that was it,” he said.

The win puts Sorrento back to the top of the PS4 NPLWA table with 28 points, two points clear of Perth SC and Floreat Athena.

Balcatta 0
Sorrento 3 (Hill 17min, Bulloch 78, 80)
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Grindleford Reserve
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Stuart Muldoon

Balcatta: 1. Domenico SAVOLDELLI (GK), 2. Rudnei NOGUEIRA, 3. Justin ONEK, 8. Patrick SARA (17. Henock BUTSHIRE 60’), 9. Luccas MELLO (16. Marco CHADINHA 72’) 10. Jonathan CORNESS (C), 13. Daniel HEPWORTH, 15. Camelo GIUFFRE, 18. Ben MEREDITH, 19. Endalk ACHAMYELEH 20. Josip VUJICA (23. Ismael BANGURA 61’)
Substitute not used: 7. Tom PELLIZZARI 44. Luke HUTCHINSON (RGK)
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil

Sorrento: 1. James MORGAN (GK), 2. Jacob SHORE, 4. Shaun KILKELLY, 7. Alex MORGAN
(15. Brodie MARTIN 68’), 9. Sean CANHAM, 10. Scott BULLOCH (12. Joshua TUCKER 83’), 11. Timothy HILL, 13. Steve MCDONALD (C), 17. Reece VITTIGLIA (6.Darryl PLATTEN 83’), 20. Brad MCDONALD, 21. Sam BYLES
Substitutes not used: 60. Anthony SALPIETRO, Jordan BROWN
Yellow Cards: 11. Timothy HILL
Red Cards: Nil