Report by Ryan Borrett

Photo by Jonny Warrington

Bayswater City solidified their place at the top of the NPL WA table with a 4-1 win over Balcatta at Grindleford Reserve on Saturday.

Balcatta came out of the blocks firing and had a great chance to take the lead early on from the penalty spot but Bayswater keeper Devon Spence dived the right way to deny Kris Gate.

Bayswater then found their rhythm after their shaky start and by 30 minutes they had scored three times.

Balcatta clawed a goal back in the second half but this was cancelled out minutes later as Bayswater scored their fourth and then closed out the game well to claim the three points.

Despite thew win, Bayswater City coach Chris Coyne wasn’t completely satisfied with his side’s performance.

“Goals sometimes polish over the cracks,” Coyne said, adding that his side could have been 3-0 down inside the first 10 minutes.
 
“I said to the team at half-time that I don’t think you understand that we aren’t playing well today.

“After conceding that goal we were fortunate to get one back straight away, we were below par today but we’ll take the three points.”

Balcatta coach Goran Stajic felt the scoreline did not reflect the way the match went.

“I don’t think it was a 4-1 game, I think we were always in the game, and we kept creating chances," he said.

“I don’t think you can sit back and absorb a side like Bayswater, I think you have to take the game to them and we did today.”

After surviving the opening period, Bayswater went ahead on 13 minutes when striker Luka Ninkovic headed home at the end of a scrambling patch of play in the Balcatta box.

Captain Trent Kay then doubled his side’s advantage shortly after, latching on to Todd Howarth’s brilliant delivery into the box from a free-kick.

Balcatta, who lost 4-2 to Bayswater in Round One, must have wondered what had gone wrong and it got worse when Arran Maplestone added a third in the 29th minute. Ninkovic rounded Balcatta keeper Domenico Savoldelli and then cut back a brilliant ball to Maplestone, who had a simple close-range finish.

New Balcatta signing Asher Nelson gave his new side some hope early in the second half with a brilliant long-range effort that hammered into the top right-hand corner to make it 3-1.

“It was a stunning debut and what a finish,” Stajic added on Nelson’s first game for his new club.

But Maplestone re-established the visitors' three-goal advantage five minutes later with an excellent solo run and finish past the outstretched glove of Savoldelli.

Moses Kalau, a new addition to Bayswater City from Stirling, impressed in his debut match.

“After missing eight or nine months of football we knew he was undercooked, but we wanted to get him out there today to give him some minutes and he’s exciting,” Coyne said.

Balcatta 1 (Nelson 48min)
Bayswater City 4 (Ninkovic 13, Kay 19, Maplestone 29, 53)
Saturday, May 26
Grindleford Reserve
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Tom Glavovic
Assistant referees: Sorousha Moayer, Jatin Lodhia

Balcatta: 1. Domenico SAVOLDELLI, , 3. Hayden STEVENS, 4. Calum O’CONNELL, 5. TOM PELLIZZARI, 6. Kris GATE (23. Lawrence SHURAMA ), 7. Asher NELSON, 8. Carmelo GIUFFRE, 9. Alex WILD, 10. Jonathan CORNESS, 15. Adriano JELENOVIC, 20. Shubbham MOKALA
Substitutes not used: 2. Joseph MARINO, 12. Anton DE FRANCESCH, 24. Ben PELLIZZARI, 25. Kyle MCDONALD
Yellow cards: Wild 41
Red cards: Nil

Bayswater City: 1. Devon SPENCE, 4. Arran MAPLESTONE, 5. Adam HARRIS, 6. Todd HOWARTH, 8. Paul MCCARTHY, 12. David STOKOE, 13. Trent KAY, 17. Gian ALBANO, 19. Luka NINKOVIC, 26. Paul LLOYD, 30. Moses KALAU
Substitutes not used: 15. Jordan POKLER, 22. Luke SALMON, 23. Andrija JUKIC, 24. Jake SARDELIC, 25. Dejan ALEKSIC
Yellow cards: Salmon 70, Jukic 73
Red cards: Nil