Report by Blayne Treadgold

Floreat Athena produced a spirited second-half comeback to recover from two goals down and share the points with Inglewood United on Sunday afternoon.

A goal from Phillip Arnold and a Jonathan Stynes injury-time equaliser saw Howard Tweats’ men pinch a late point to keep them in touch with the teams above them in the relegation fight.

Tweats was very happy with his side’s response in the second half after trailing 2-0 at the interval.

“We had our good patches in the first half without really creating anything,” he said.

“We changed a few things at half-time; we tried to focus on controlling the outward ball and it seemed to work for us.

“At two-nil down, we have to be happy with a point. We gave a good account of ourselves in the second half.”

It was all the visitors in the first half with Ash Rosindale bagging the opener after some clever build-up play around the 18-yard box.

Then Brian Woodall added one for the highlight reel as he superbly chipped Floreat keeper Jason Saldaris from midfield to give United a two-goal cushion at the break.

It was Floreat who came out of the gates the quicker in the second half and were rewarded when Arnold pegged one back. He pounced on a loose ball after a defensive mix-up, rounded United keeper Alex Dunn and caressed the ball into the open net to keep Athena in the contest.

Alex Salmon had a number of chances to extend Inglewood’s lead in the second half, while one brilliant glancing header which did find the net was disallowed for offside.

Floreat chased the game late on and second-half substitute Stynes stepped up to equalise late in the day.

Minutes later Athena’s Calvin Whitney remarkably went within a whisker of stealing all three points for the team sitting second bottom, only for the ball to cannon back off the woodwork.

Despite that escape, Inglewood coach Andy Keogh was furious with his side’s second-half display.

“We gave away sloppy goals, didn’t defend and we were punished,” he said.

“Ultimately, it was our schoolboy defending which cost us.”

Floreat Athena 2 (Arnold 52min, Stynes 90+1)
Inglewood United 2 (Rosindale 27, Woodall 36)
Saturday, April 15, 2018
Litis Stadium
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Steven Gregory
Assistant referees: Daniel Cole, Ethan Persse

Floreat Athena: 1. Jason SALDARIS, 2. Marco SANTA LUCIA, 6. Jesse FULLER, 10. Calvin WHITNEY,
11. Dennis GALAN, 13. Hamza HINA (8. Jonathan STYNES 61), 14. Ludovic BOI, 15. Chris SALDARIS,
16. Ryan MALTON (8. Jamie STREET 64), 17. Dean EVANS, 18. Phillip ARNOLD.
Substitutes not used: 4. Andrew SCALDAFERRO, 9. Carlo COELHO 23. Jordan BARBAS
Yellow cards: 11. Dennis GALAN
Red cards: none

Inglewood United: 1. Alex DUNN, 2. Alex ISHIDA-LIVINGS 4. Scott BLACKMORE, 5. Scott ROBERTSON (3. David CYRUS 68), 7. Kenny KEOGH (15. Brian FARRELL 64), 8. Jason BARRERA, 9. Alex SALMON, 10. Ash ROSINDALE (11. Ellis HEALING 53), 14. Hanafi GHAZILI, 16. Jamie MURPHY, 23. Brian WOODALL.
Substitutes not used: 12. Feisal ZAW, 21. Michael COHEN
Yellow cards: 5. Scott ROBERTSON
Red cards: Nil