Report by Tommy Doleman

Rockingham City are keen to make their mark in the NPL. Photo by FotoEnzo

Rockingham City will make the tough trip north to face defending champions ECU Joondalup on Saturday as they aim to build on the weekend’s performance against Armadale.

Although City conceded a late equaliser, their performance in the 1-1 draw provided further encouragement to captain Ryan Kennedy, who gave his side the lead from the penalty spot.

Rockingham won just one game in last season's NPLWA - Men's competition But Kennedy is confident they can start making their mark on the division under new head coach Goran Stajic.

“We’ve seen in the Night Series and in stages of games this season that we can play well, but it’s about having belief that we can continue to match it,” he said.

“We’re not just here to make up the numbers - we want to put a stamp on the NPL.

“Goran has brought a professionalism to the club with the structuring of training and targets as well as a bit of a siege mentality.

“We’ve always had that here at Rockingham, but we’re together, the atmosphere around the club is great and if we can keep it going I believe we can do something special down here.”

Kennedy is also excited about the challenge of facing ECU and the opportunity to respond after last week’s late setback.

“We’ll address as a leadership group what we can improve on, but there was a lot of positives to take from the Armadale game and it’s a chance to really go at it and test ourselves again,” he said.

“We saw Armadale took it to ECU the other week and I thought we played a good game against them in the Night Series too.

“They’ve got some good players who we obviously respect, but we won’t fear them and we want to go there, play our game to try and get the points.”

ECU, meanwhile, will want to avoid a repeat of that previous home game when they lost 4-0 to Armadale. Striker Danny Hodgson is pleased with the way the team has hit back since then, having moved up to outright second in the league, and is confident of avoiding another slip-up at the campus.

"We put in a really good performance against Gwelup on and off the ball (in Round One) and having beaten Armadale a couple of weeks before in the Night Series, I think we thought we could just turn up and win," he said.

"You don't want these wake-up calls, but you'd rather them happen early in the season than later, and the response has been great beating Inglewood and Sorrento.

"Kenny is technical with how he wants us to play. He's put his foot down and told us if we don't do our jobs on and off the ball then no matter who you are, you won't start, so I think everyone knows what the standard is now and I don’t think there'll be a repeat of Armadale."

Hodgson won the NPL Golden Boot in 2020 and has already scored three in four games this campaign. The Englishman said the additions of former Glory man Chris Harold and two-time Gold Medal winner Daryl Nicol have kept him on his toes.

"Chris and Daryl are two of the best attackers in the league whose CVs speak for themselves and it's added that competition up front where everyone is fighting for spots," he added.

"It's made me up my game and it's nice to hit the ground running, but all that matters is the team continues winning."

In other games, Floreat Athena look to continue their 100% start to the season when they face Bayswater City at Frank Drago Reserve.

Inglewood United host Sorrento as both look to bounce back from Round Four losses, with the home side winless since the opening round.

Armadale and Balcatta, who both rescued a point with stoppage-time goals last Saturday, meet at Alfred Skeet Reserve, Gwelup Croatia take on Perth Glory, while bottom club Cockburn City's tough start does not get any easier with a fixture against fourth-placed Perth SC at Dalmatinac Park.

All matches are at 3pm on Saturday and will eb livestreamed on the Football West YouTube and Facebook pages.