Football West News

Ante Kovacevic, seated right, looks on as Floreat Athena defeat Perth SC 2-0 at Dorrien Gardens last Saturday. Photo by FotoEnzo

Floreat Athena aim to continue their winning start to the Men’s NPL on Saturday and in the process send head coach Ante Kovacevic out on a high.

Kovacevic is returning to Melbourne to become the general manager of football at A-League club Western United.

Victories over Armadale and Perth SC mean Athena are the only side in the NPL WA with a 100 per cent record, heading into this weekend’s visit to Balcatta.

“I would love to sign off with another win,” Kovacevic said. “I came back six months ago and it has gone well. It’s great to see the boys progress and win games.”

Kovacevic, a former Floreat player and coach, said the chance of a full-time post in the A-League was too good to turn down. But he added: “There will be a bit of sadness (to leave Athena).

“Hopefully the team will continue to do well. There’s a good work ethic here and they have a good quality of coach and of player.”

Kovacevic’s departure means Floreat will be looking for their third head coach of 2020, with Garrett McDulling leaving in February.

Senior assistant Vas Vujicic will step up into an interim role and Kovacevic said: “We probably brought a bit of stability. We understand the club and its expectations and with the assistant coach staying on, hopefully that can continue. I don’t think the club needs to go out and get a new coach to come in and revolutionise the place.”

Kovacevic said there was extra pressure on the team before last week’s game at Perth SC, with Floreat having already defeated the champions in March before the 2020 season was reset.

“There was a bit of extra feeling because we beat them in the previous game that got scrubbed and we didn’t want that to bite us on the backside,” he said. “But the first game against Armadale was tough, too. There are a lot of good clubs out there who are well coached.”

While Floreat have taken maximum points, Balcatta are still looking for a first win. They began with a 1-1 draw at home to Perth Glory before going down 2-1 to Armadale.

Second-place Glory are at Gwelup Croatia, who sit third. Glory will hope things pan out differently from their meeting in the cancelled Round One four months ago, when Gwelup won 5-0.

Another winless side, Bayswater City, will wonder how their game at Cockburn City got away from them even accounting for the loss of keeper Devon Lindemann when they led 2-1. On Saturday Chris Coyne’s side are at home to Inglewood United, who have a win and a draw so far.

There is a derby in Joondalup, with ECU at home to Sorrento, while in the south Rockingham City face Armadale at SafeRad Stadium.

Finally Perth SC will host the first double header of its kind at Dorrien Gardens on Saturday. The Men’s NPL clash between the Azzurri and Cockburn City is at 3pm. This will be followed by Danielle Brogan’s Women’s NPL league leaders taking on Murdoch University Melville (5pm).

The men's clash with see midfielder Kristian Santich return to Dorrien on the back of a two-goal display in Cockburn's win over Bayswater.

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