Floreat book top-six spot, Gwelup falter
Report by Ben Somerford
ECU's pressure was too much for Gwelup Croatia, who are now five points off leaders Floreat Athena. Photo by Peter Simcox
Floreat Athena have become the first team to book a top-six spot when the league splits in two rounds' time following a 2-0 win away at Inglewood United.
Saturday's result moved Athena five points clear of Gwelup Croatia and Sorrento at the top of the NPLWA Men's table.
After an uneventful first-half, Floreat found the way through with two goals in four minutes from Liam Murray and Chris Saldaris.
Inglewood arguably had the better of the first-half chances before a double change at half-time helped stimulate Floreat into action.
The result extended Athena’s winning run to four games and coach Vas Vujacic said: “We changed a few things at half-time and started to play better and create a few more opportunities.”
Floreat keeper Jordan Barbas, standing in for regular number one Jason Saldaris, was forced into good saves early in the first half to twice deny Inglewood’s energetic Steve Sokol.
Athena’s best chance came from Luka Ninkovic, on his first game back after a stint with Heidelberg in Victoria, with his 30th minute header hitting the roof of the net.
Tireless Inglewood forward Chris Jackson then fired over the bar on the stroke of half-time.
Floreat snapped into action in the second half with the experienced Ludovic Boi and Ben Steele brought on, and on 65 minutes Murray fired past United keeper Alex Dunn to break the deadlock.
Minutes later, Chris Saldaris added a second. Captain Dean Evans’ free-kick deflected into his path and the defender shot low past Dunn.
Floreat hosts third-placed Sorrento next round, while Inglewood, who now slip outside the top six, are away to Balcatta.
Tommy Amphlett scored a brace to continue his fine form in front of goal as ECU Joondalup surged up to fifth with a 3-2 win at Gwelup Croatia.
There were chances at both ends early on as Shubham Mokala volleyed into the arms of Jacks keeper Johnny Perkins before Danny Hodgson shot tamely at Connor Campbell.
The breakthrough was made by Kenny Lowe's men on 35 minutes when Amphlett scored for a third straight game with a long-range drive which found the bottom corner.
Amphlett and Callum Timmins then linked up to cross for Hodgson, who bundled in his seventh goal of the season for 2-0 in first half stoppage time.
Gwelup's task became near impossible after a mix-up in defence allowed ECU to treble their lead. Campbell was forced to claw a header from his own teammate off the goal line before Amphlett poked in at the second attempt.
The visitors did pull one back on the hour mark when Mokala was fouled in the area by Shane Cassidy and top scorer Hasani Sinclair stepped up to score his sixth of the season from the spot.
Mokala pulled a second goal back five minutes into second-half stoppage time, but it was too little too late as Gwelup's winless run extended to three.
Sorrento maintained their stranglehold on third spot in the table with a 4-2 win over Armadale at Percy Doyle Reserve.
It was a chaotic start to proceedings as Sebastian Stenqvist opened the scoring inside 90 seconds, before parity was restored seven minutes later when Scott Witschge fired in off the post for his first goal of the season.
Jordan Brown put Sorrento ahead on 15 minutes when he stooped at the near post to head in Ollie Annis' corner before Alex Morgan pounced on an error at the back and squared for Amir Ajan to tap home for 3-1.
The Gulls were without 11-goal Cameron Teece but Ajan was filling in suitably for the league's leading scorer when he raced on to a flick-on and doubled his tally 39 seconds after the restart.
Armadale were also without their top scorer Angel Andres, but they did pull one back just past the hour mark when Friday Zico curled home superbly from outside the area.
Ajan nearly completed his hat-trick when his snapshot fizzed past Cyril Sharrock's post, but it mattered little as Sorrento extended their unbeaten run at home to four games.
Cockburn City catapulted themselves up to fourth in the league as they remained unbeaten at Dalmatinac Park after a 3-0 win over Balcatta.
The hosts took the lead after quarter of an hour when Cameron Edwards and Riley Woodcock engineered a well-worked set-piece, which resulted in Breckan Baker crashing home a back-post header.
Daniel Santich flashed an effort wide of the post soon after, and Liam Murray nearly scored his first senior goal since returning from injury when Alex Castiello cleared his lob off the line.
The lead was doubled moments later when Jesse Lazzaro found time and space inside the penalty area and executed a cheeky chip which looped over Riley Stephenson into the far corner.
It was 3-0 two minutes into the second half when Kristian Santich's shot on the turn forced a good save from the goalkeeper, but Lazzaro was on hand to score his second of the afternoon.
Balcatta found chances hard to come by against the league's second-best defence but missed a golden chance to score when Castiello nodded Calum O'Connell's free-kick wide.
Charlie Watt came off the bench and fired beyond Luke Radonich's post late on as Cockburn's defence remained firm to secure a third clean sheet of 2020.
Cockburn's next opponents will be Rockingham City, who won their first match of the season with a come-from-behind 3-1 upset of Bayswater City at Frank Drago Reserve.
The hosts made a good start as Declan Hughes' diagonal long pass was collected by Daryl Nicol, who drove in from the left and finished past goalkeeper Nestus Burger for his sixth goal of the campaign.
Nicol's cross for Luke Salmon minutes later was a little strong for the ex-Glory youngster to hook home before Rockingham equalised when Ryan Kennedy notched his first goal of the year from a direct free-kick.
Nicol's free-kick cannoned back off the bar, moments before the visitors took the lead on 32 minutes when Bayswater failed to clear their lines from a corner and Michael Farmer scrambled home from close range.
Salmon slashed inches wide before the break, but Rockingham continued to defend well and threw bodies at efforts from Gordon Smith and Salmon in the second period to preserve their lead.
And a memorable win was secured 14 minutes from time when James Paylor headed Luke Collins' corner in to drop Bayswater to sixth and help Rockingham avenge a 5-0 defeat suffered at the same venue last season.
Teams and match details
Perth Soccer Club moved within a point of the top six as they cruised to a 4-1 win over Perth Glory at Dorrien Gardens.
The Azzurri had a scare early when Charlie Leech's turn and strike was blocked by Ryan Montgomery before Ciaran Bramwell headed wide and then fired over in quick succession.
They were made to pay for those missed opportunities when miscommunication between Sam Reilly and his defence allowed Michael Domfeh to poke in his seventh goal of the season.
Perth got rolling after that and doubled their lead on 36 minutes when Aleks Jovic's free-kick was attacked and headed in by an unmarked Bojan Radinovic for his first goal in nearly a year.
Yagoub Mustafa's drive smacked off the post before Jayden Gorman's goal was disallowed by an offside flag.
Glory nearly halved the deficit when Montgomery saved from Bryce Bafford.
The hosts eventually put the game to bed when Tom Southgate headed in from close range, although Glory did pull a consolation back through Royie Rahimim, who came off the bench to score his first NPL goal.
Aleks Jovic added gloss to the score in the closing stages when he prodded home his first of the year, as Perth look ahead to next week's commentary match at ECU Joondalup.
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