Football West News

It’s a tale of two Citys at the top of the NPL WA after Bayswater and Cockburn opened up a four-point gap following the Round 11 midweek matches.

LINKS TO FULL MATCH REPORTS BELOW

While much has rightly been made of the unpredictability of this season’s competition, champions Bayswater remain out in front following their 4-2 win away at Sorrento on Wednesday.

Chris Coyne’s side trailed twice in the match before punishing the Gulls for their mistakes, with Andrija Jukic both scorer and provider at Percy Doyle Reserve.

“It’s always difficult coming to Sorrento, they always play well against us so it’s good to get the three points,” Jukic said.

“I missed a few in the cup against Floreat so I just tried to get it on target today and it went in, luckily.”

Sorrento have now lost five out of six but coach Jamie Harnwell stuck up for his players.

“I’m really happy with the performance, I don’t think we deserved to be beaten,” he said.

“We worked hard to score our goals and basically handed Bayswater theirs on a plate. We’re switching off at important teams and better teams will punish us.”

Cockburn trail Bayswater on goal difference after turning over Floreat Athena 4-0 on the back of a strong second half at E&D Litis Reserve.

Luccas Mello and Daniel Robinson were again among the goals for Cockburn, whose display delighted coach Scott Miller.

“That’s as good as our boys will play,” Miller said. “We’re trying to embrace being the favourites this year. Our whole shape is good, the boys are confident in the front third and it’s good to watch.”

For Floreat, their back-to-back league and cup wins over Bayswater are beginning to look like a false dawn after a second successive 4-0 home loss.

“We’re in a rut – we’ve got injuries, suspensions but we’ll patch ourselves up, there’s not much you can do about it,” Floreat coach Howard Tweats said.

A club suddenly in worse form than Floreat are ECU Joondalup, who have conceded 10 goals in two home matches.

They shipped six last Saturday against Forrestfield United and let in another four on Wednesday when going down to impressive Balcatta, with Adriano Jelenovic bagging a brace.

ECU coach Dale McCulloch said: “The performance tonight wasn’t good enough, simple as that.”

Inglewood United have been doing their stuff under the radar and are now fifth and just a point behind third-place Perth Glory.

On Wednesday goals from Ash Rosindale, Alex Salmon and a Kieran Colwell own goal gave them a 3-2 win over stuttering Perth SC in a fantastic match at Perth Plasterboard Centre Stadium.

“We’ve been knocking on the door and quietly going about our business, trying to play some good football with some high levels of energy,” Inglewood coach Andy Keogh said.

Glory failed to keep pace with the top two after being held 1-1 by Armadale, Forrestfield United and Subiaco drew 0-0 while bottom club Joondalup United suffered a 10th loss in 11 games when sinking 2-0 at home to Stirling Lions.

Even this early in the season Joondalup look almost certain to be relegated but with three clubs set to go down, there are a number of sides who will be looking to turn their form around soon.

RESULTS
Joondalup United 0
Stirling Lions 2 (Marsden og 17min, Micevski 21)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Armadale 1 (Jackson 62min)
Perth Glory 1 (Knowles 56min)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE 

Floreat Athena 0
Cockburn City 4 (Santa Lucia og 56min, Mello 57, Robinson 75, Santich 90)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

ECU Joondalup 1 (De Lima 49min)
Balcatta 4 (Challot 31min, Jelenovic 52, 54, O’Connell 77)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Inglewood United 3 (Rosindale 14min, Salmon 62, Colwell og 85)
Perth SC 2 (Milenkovic 19min, Furfaro 55)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Forrestfield United 0
Subiaco 0
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Sorrento 2 (Salter 37min, Roberts 49)
Bayswater City 4 (Lloyd 45min, Jukic 63, Kay 75, Salmon 80)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE