Report by Blayne Treadgold

A Calum O’Connell hat-trick and a brace from Kris Gate helped Balcatta complete a 6-2 thumping of Joondalup United, whose relegation from the NPL WA was finally confirmed at Grindleford Reserve on Saturday.

Balcatta stand-in coach Dimitri Phylactou was delighted with his side’s display, in particular the leadership qualities of his senior players.

“It was a good, professional performance from the boys, we asked them to keep the standard high,” he said.

“It’s good to see the guys who have been around really lift the team.

“We’ve got a young team but there are a couple of older heads who needed to take the next step and lead today and they did, which was really good to see.”

Balcatta opened the scoring within the first 10 minutes as Lawrence Shurama and Alex Wild combined to set up Gate with a simple finish.

Just eight minutes later O’connell doubled the lead for Balcatta after Joondalup failed to clear their lines. Wild again became the provider as O’Connell thumped the ball past Joondalup keeper Samuel Cornwall.

Balcatta continued to pile on the pressure and were rewarded again with Gate grabbing his second through a superb header from a pinpoint Shubham Mokala free-kick.

Hayden Stevens then found himself in the right place at the right time as Cornwell made an unfortunate blunder, spilling the ball to the feet of Stevens for the easiest of finishes to make it 4-0 at the break.

Joondalup continued their battle and got their just rewards early in the second half with left back Anthony Taylor rising high to head home a Callum Stocks’ cross.

But moments later the nightmare continued for Cornwall, in for the suspended James Bosdet who was one of three players sent off against Forrestfield a fortnight ago. The keeper misread a cross to the back post and the ball fell to the waiting O’Connell who cleverly put the ball into the net to pile further misery on United.

As the game continued to open up in the wet conditions Joondalup’s Lee Jones got himself on the scoresheet following a goalmouth scramble.

O’Connell completed his hat-trick in a superb captain’s display with a carbon copy of his second goal to put the final nail in the coffin and complete the 6-2 annihilation.

Despite being hampered by injuries and suspensions Joondalup coach Nick Jennings was disappointed with the result.

“We’ve had to patch a team together, I’d love to have some sort of headache from selecting the team.” he joked.

“First-half performance was full of individual errors, unfortunately it is the story of our season.

“The second half, if we had of played like that in the first half, we might have got something but at the end of the day the better team won."

The result sees Balcatta edge away from the relegation battle while for Joondalup it’s all but season over as they look ahead to consolidate and prepare for State League football in 2019.

Balcatta 6 (Gate 9min, 30, O’Connell 17, 56, 75, Stevens 36)
Joondalup United 2 (Taylor 48, Jones 70)
Saturday, July 21
Grindleford Reserve
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Tom Glavovic
Assistant referees: Amit Hosany, Ethan Persse

Joondalup United: 1. Samuel CORNWELL (GK), 2. Johnny CHALMERS, 4. Danny O’SHEA, 9. Lee JONES,
10. Elliot TATTERSALL, 11. Anthony TAYLOR, 12. William KESSEL, 15. Callum STOCKS, 17. Matthew CHERRIE (24. James SPURRY 79) 19. Adam BUCKLEY (20. Morgan COOPER 71) 22. Jamie GIBSON (16. Graeme REID 45)
Substitutes not used: 23. Ellis HESLOP, 41. Johann MORITZ SILVER (RGK)
Yellow cards: 4. Danny O’SHEA, 10. Elliot TATTERSALL
Red cards: Nil

Balcatta: 25. Kyle MCDONALD (GK) 3. Hayden STEVENS, 4. Calum O’CONNELL, 5. Tom PELLIZZARI,
6. Kris GATE (7. Asher NELSON 61) 8. Carmelo GIUFFRE, 9. Alex WILD, 10. Jonathon CORNESS (C), 14. Lawrence SHURAMA (23. Rene ALBA 82) 18. Robert DEL BORELLO, 20. Shubham MOKALA (22. Tom LOGAN 68) 25. Kyle MCDONALD
Substitutes not used: 1. Domenico SALVODELLI (RGK) , 21. Bleron MARMUDI, 22. Tom LOGAN
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil