Report by Aidan Shaw

Photo by Johnny Warrington

 

Reigning PS4 NPLWA champions Perth SC have let go of top spot after grinding out a scoreless draw with Armadale at Dorrien Gardens on Saturday.

Despite having the lion’s share of possession and chances, Perth were unable to convert against an Armadale side who showed great character in defence.

Perth’s Ramon Falzon said he was disappointed with the result, and rued his side’s many missed chances throughout the match.

“I have no doubt that the players put in a good effort today, but it’s not just about the effort, it’s about the quality on the ball,” he said.

“Creating chances is good but you need to take your chances and we ended up dropping two points because we didn’t take ours.”

A spate of early opportunities fell the way of the hosts, with Andreas Theodosiades forcing a good block from Michael Craggs in the 12th minute after receiving the ball near the penalty spot.

Gustavo Catarcione got on the end of a beautiful lobbed ball in the 25th minute and went one on one with Craggs, but was not at his clinical best as he fired unconvincingly at the legs of the visiting custodian.

Tom King was then fouled well outside the area in the 33rd minute, but his ambitious effort from the resulting free kick missed the target.

Armadale had their first convincing chance of the match shortly after, when Charlie Kenna was fouled right on the edge of the area, inches away from being awarded a penalty.

Kyle King stepped up for the resulting free kick, but missed the target by a significant margin.

Rocco Pizzata and Charlie Kenna were involved in a scuffle in the 40th minute, with both players being cautioned by referee Tom Dowle after he consulted his assistant.

In the opening moments of the second half, Tom King sent the Azzurri faithful into raptures when he unleashed a wonder strike that found the top right corner from outside the box.

The celebrations were short lived, however, as the goal was disallowed for reasons not entirely clear to the crowd at the time.

The officials later confirmed that King’s shot had faintly brushed the head of Catarcione, who was in an offside position, before finding the back of the net.

King had another chance minutes later when Catarcione played him in on the edge of the area, but he couldn’t repeat his magic and fired well over.

The visitors had their last meaningful chance of the game on the hour mark when Jordan Pavett fired a low free kick wide of the target, and survived Perth’s late onslaught to earn a well-deserved point.

Armadale’s John O’Reilly said his side showed great character to cause an upset for the reigning champions.

“I said to the boys when we started the game today - when we arrived, Perth already had the three points and we are here to take them off them,” he said.

“Today was more about heart and effort, we weren’t going to outplay Perth but if we had a bigger heart than them we could hang in there and upset their day.”

“We were hoping to get a breakaway goal, that didn’t happen so second best we didn’t lose, and that’s what we needed to do off the back of two losses.”

“What we do need to do though is polish up our game. We can’t base the season on blood and guts, there has got to be an element of clinical and tidy play.”

Despite salvaging a point, Armadale have slipped to third bottom, while Perth now trail new league leaders Sorrento.

 

Perth SC 0

Armadale SC 0

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Dorrien Gardens

Kick-off: 3:00pm

Referee: Tom Dowle

Assistant Referees: Walter Ciotti, Darren Quinlan

 

Perth: GK Francis SOALE (23. Daniel PASSARELLI 46), 2. Alex SILLA, 3. Andreas THEODOSIADES, 4. Adrian MADASCHI (c), 7. Alexs JOVIC (12. Jordan DE LEO 71), 8. Tom KING, 9. Gustavo CATARCIONE, 11. Matthew MILENKOVIC, 13. Rocco PIZZATA, 15. Harley ORR (10. Nicholas AMBROGIO 88), 16. Kieran COLWELL

Substitutes not used: 20. Thomas JEBB, 21. Paul ZIMARINO

Yellow cards: Pizzata 41’, Madaschi 90+5

Red cards: nil

 

Armadale: GK Michael CRAGGS, 2. Dylan WHITE, 4. Nathan COSTELLO, 5. Sam LOVELESS, 7. Charlie KENNA, 8. Jordan PAVETT (20. Beau RAHIM 75), 9. Kyle KING (18. Milan OGNJENOVIC 82), 11. Dannie RICHMAN, 12. Jordan TUMOE, 16. Tristan TAYLOR, 17. James ATKINS (10. Papa KPATAR 80)

Substitutes not used: RGK. Alec RADONICH, 6. Fausten MACHOCI

Yellow Cards: Kenna 41’, Ognjenovic 90’

Red Cards: nil