Derby delight for 10-man Forrestfield
Report by Tristan Wheeler
Ten-man Forrestfield United landed a late KO blow to win a thrilling derby against Armadale at Alfred Skeet Reserve on Saturday night.
Despite having defender Leslie Mari sent off on 72 minutes for violent conduct, Forrestfield held their nerve and snatched the points through substitute Jordan Hart’s strike 12 minutes from time.
The 1-0 win meant the world to Forrestfield coach Rod Banjac, who said of his players: “I’m just so proud of them today, it was a very, very disciplined performance from beginning to end.”
Armadale, who have an FFA Cup Preliminary semi-final against ECU Joondalup on Monday, were still unlucky not to scrape a draw.
Michael Rizidis saw a shot deflect off keeper Luke Martino before being kept out by Wilbert Tshabangu, Ryan Haslett hit the crossbar, while Chris Jackson’s header possibly crossed the line but no goal was given.
Armadale coach John O’Reilly said: “It was so frustrating to see something that we’ve been working on for three weeks present maybe five opportunities to score today, and the only thing that was missing was putting the ball in the back of the net.”
While Armadale certainly had enough opportunities to win, that shouldn’t detract from Forrestfield’s performance and they will point to Mitchell Crocker’s free-kick which was tipped wide by Sam Hutchings.
The result saw Forrestfield close the gap between themselves and Armadale to two points. For Armadale, it is now about Monday’s visit of ECU Joondalup in the FFA Cup, with a place in the national Round of 32 and the Belt up. State Cup final up for grabs.
Armadale 0
Forrestfield United 1 (Hart 78min)
Saturday, June 2
Alfred Skeet Reserve
Kick-off: 7pm
Referee: Steven Gregory
Assistant referees: Anthony Walsh, Thomas Robinson
Armadale: 1. Sam HUTCHINGS (GK), 2. Joshua KUSER, 3. Delan DE SILVA, 4. Nathan COSTELLO (c ), 5. David ANNALL, 10. Chris JACKSON, 11. Michael RIZIDIS (9. Billy QUINNCROFT 79), 13. Hasan EL YASSIRI (22. Ryan HASLETT 62), 15. Ali GHOLAMI, 20. Friday ZICO, 21. Beau RAHIM (17. James ATKINS 90)
Substitutes not used: 34. Duncan LENNON-BLACK
Yellow cards: Kuser 83
Red cards: Nil
Forrestfield United: 1. Luke MARTINO, 2. Wilbert Tshabangu, 3. Leslie MARI, 5. Scott BARKER, 6. Kristian DESPOTOVSKI (10. Jordan HART 51), 7. Mitchell CROCKER, 8. Josh APPLEBY (4. Callum DOBBS 52) 9. Hasani SINCLAIR, 11. Jamie DUNCAN, 14. Antoine LEMARIE (23. ), 15. Jamie STREET
Substitutes not used: 18. Benjamin PARRY, 13. Josh KITTO
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Mari 72
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