Dominant Floreat too good in final
Report by Peter Simcox
Floreat Athena were too good for Perth SC on Sunday. Photo by FotballWest/FotoEnzo
Floreat Athena claimed the 2020 NPLWA Men's Final Series Cup after a convincing 4-0 win against Perth SC at Dorrien Gardens on Sunday night.
Nicholas Ambrogio gave Athena the lead midway through the first half and Liam Murray doubled their advantage just before the break.
Despite being reduced to 10 men early in the second half after Marco Santalucia was sent off for a second yellow card, Athena continued to dominate.
Ludovic Boi added a third, before Ambrogio scored his second to seal the win.
On their home ground, Perth’s day went from bad to worse late on with Yagoub Mustafa shown a straight red card by referee David Bruce.
Floreat coach Vas Vujacic said: “It was a fantastic performance tonight. The boys have worked hard all season, so it’s good to get some silverware for their work.
“I’m happy for the everyone involved with our football club and a special mention to the younger players, who have all stepped up and played their part this season. I had every faith in each one of them and tonight was a great team performance.”
In the last game of a busy weekend of finals football, it was Floreat who opened the scoring after 22 minutes. A neat give and go between Boi and Ambrogio on the edge of the box saw the latter finish clinically past Ryan Montgomery.
Perth rallied and striker Gustavo Catarcione’s snap shot was straight at Jason Saldaris, but they were struggling to break down a tight Floreat defence. Then with half-time approaching, Floreat doubled their advantage with a stunner as Murray cut in from the left and unleashed an unstoppable shot which flew into the top corner of the net.
Athena were on the front foot after half-time and Andrew Palmer and Ambrogio saw efforts saved by Montgomery. But five minutes in they were reduced to 10 men after Santalucia received a second yellow card for a foul on Alex Silla.
The sending-off didn’t affect Floreat too much and on 58 minutes they added a third. Boi was sent into the penalty area and he beat Montgomery to the ball and crossed to Ambrogio to fire into an empty net.
It was 4-0 three minutes later, with Ambrogio returning the favour. He slipped Boi in on goal and the speedy winger finished with aplomb past Montgomery.
Perth had their chances. Michael Domfeh was denied by a smart save from Jason Saldaris, before Paul Zimarino stung the palms of the Floreat keeper.
Then on 76 minutes Dennis Galan and Mustafa clashed and the Perth winger retaliated and was shown a straight red card while Galan was given a yellow.
Not that it was going to have a bearing on the result, which partly made up for Floreat missing out on the NPL WA title on the final day.
Ambrogio won the Gary Marocchi Medal as the best player in the final.
“I thought dominated the game and soaked up their pressure especially after going down to 10 men,” Ambrogio said.
“It’s a shame we didn’t win the title, but we’ll celebrate tonight and set ourselves for a big season in 2021.”
There was double delight For Bayswater City, who won both the 20s and 18s cup finals.
In the first final of the day, Bayswater's 18s defeated Sorrento 2-0. Then in the 20s final, they beat ECU Joondalup 1-0.
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