Football West News

Paul Zimarino’s injury time winner for Perth SC against Inglewood United on Saturday ensured the NPL WA title race will go into the final two rounds.

With the score at Dorrien Gardens locked at 1-1 and leaders Perth Glory on their way to a comfortable 3-1 victory at Armadale, only a most unlikely set of results in the next fortnight would have denied John Gibson’s side the championship.

But with 93 minutes on the clock, Zimarino got on the end of Frank Furfaro’s pass to slide in the winner and ensure the purple ribbons of Glory remained untied for at least one more week.

Perth SC stay four points behind Glory but head coach Ramon Falzon said: “Mathematically it's still possible and we will push really hard until the end.”

The Azzurri are still huge long shots with Glory showing no signs of slipping up despite a number of their players away with the A-League squad in Malaysia.

Michael McDougall settled any nerves at Alfred Skeet Reserve on the weekend with the opener on four minutes. And although Armadale kept them honest, Glory again came on strong in the final quarter with goals from Bayley Brown-Montgomery and Michael Domfeh.

“It wasn’t our most stylish performance but I thought we were resilient and resolute throughout the whole game,” Glory coach Gibson said.

“I think everyone’s been waiting for us to drop off and that’s not happened, so hopefully we can just continue what we’re doing, be consistent and only worry about ourselves.”

Glory will put the title race to bed next week with victory over Cockburn City at home, while Perth SC must beat ECU Joondalup at home and rely on the Cockerels doing them a favour to prolong their interest.

Cockburn will need to do a lot better than they did on the weekend if they are to upset Glory. Saturday’s 3-0 home loss to Floreat Athena has put their place in the Top Four Cup in the balance and coach Scott Miller was unimpressed.

He said: “I’m really disappointed. We looked like a team trying to get to the end of the season - we looked lethargic. But we’ve got to reassess and see what bodies we can get on the pitch next week.

“Today we definitely got what we deserved.”

Despite the loss Cockburn have hung on to third place, a point better off than Bayswater, ECU Joondalup and Inglewood. 

Bayswater threw away a two-goal lead to draw with Sorrento, while a brace from Daryl Nicol was enough for ECU to beat Balcatta 2-1. Nicol and Chris Jackson, who scored a late consolation for Armadale against Glory, are joint leaders in the race for the Golden Boot with 23 goals.

Subiaco leapfrogged Forrestfield in the bottom three thanks to substitute Adam Carlino’s injury-time winner, while Jamie Docherty’s hat-trick helped Stirling Lions to a 5-0 victory over Joondalup United. Stirling are now fifth from bottom, above Balcatta on goal difference.

Results

Armadale 1 (Jackson 90+3min)
Perth Glory 3 (McDougall 4min, Brown-Montgomery 69, Domfeh 87)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Cockburn City 0
Floreat Athena 3 (Petkov 5min, Pollard 34, Whitney 48)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Perth SC 2 (Sabatini 9min, Zimarino 90+3)
Inglewood 1 (Woodall 10min)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Bayswater City 2 (Albano 26min, Mirco 37)
Sorrento 2 (Roberts 57min, 93)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Balcatta 1 (Stevens 76min)
ECU Joondalup 2 (Nicol 6min, 66)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Stirling Lions 5 (Docherty 9min, Sokol 39, 86, Tanevski 58, 82)
Joondalup 0
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE

Subiaco 2 (Topini 38min, Carlino 90+2)
Forrestfield United 1 (Loxley 9)
FULL MATCH REPORT HERE