Report by Jayden Lihou

Inglewood United shared the points in a 1-1 draw with Perth Glory in round nine of the PS4 NPLWA season at Perth Plasterboard Centre Stadium on Saturday.

Glory took the lead thanks to a penalty near the end of the first half, but Inglewood responded with a penalty of their own in the 87th minute.

Inglewood coach Taki Nicolaidis said that his side created the better chances, but poor finishing cost him in the end.

“I thought over 90 minutes we had enough chances to win the game,” he said.

“But if you don’t hit the target you’re never going to be in with a chance.

“Thurtell pulled off two magnificent saves in the first-half, and in the second-half we had those two one-on-ones, but we wavered in front of goal and that’s probably the difference between one point and three points.

“We will regroup and prepare for Monday’s FFA cup game against Perth, so we’re looking forward to it.”

The away side started the match positively when Joseph Knowles was played one-on-one with keeper Alex Dunn, but his shot from an angle was denied.

Inglewood created their first genuine opportunity of the match in the 25th minute when Brian Woodall crossed the ball to Alex Salmon. The striker took a touch to set himself up for the half volley but his shot was stopped thanks to a diving save from keeper Jordan Thurtell.

Thurtell proved to be the hero again in the 38th minute when he denied a shot from Jason Barrera, who had time and space in the box.

Inglewood rued those missed chances as Glory made it 1-0 in the 45th minute when Dunn committed a foul on captain David Stynes in the box.

Kosta Petratos converted the penalty to give his side a valuable one goal lead going into the break.

After a tightly contested start to the second period, Inglewood began to dominate in the closing stages of the match.

The home-side were rewarded for their efforts as Salmon converted a penalty late in the game when Luca Bodnar fouled substitute Ash Rosindale in the box.

Inglewood continued to mount pressure on the away side and they almost found the winner in the 94th minute when Kenny Keogh squared the ball to Rosindale whose shot thundered off the cross bar.

Perth Glory coach John Gibson praised his defence and goal keeper in his side’s draw but thought his side could have finished better.

“I thought we defended stoically and Thurtell was fantastic today,” he said.

“We expected to be bombarded by Inglewood in the closing stages of game but I thought we handled that as group very well.”

“We created some really good opportunities but we just needed to be more ruthless in the front third.

“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t hang on in the end but I thought we handled the pressure late on as a collective group pretty well.”

Inglewood United 1 (Salmon 87min)
Perth Glory 1 (Petratos 45min)
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Perth Plasterboard Centre Stadium
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Tom Glavovic
Assistant Referees: Daniel Cole, Callum Haddow

Inglewood United: GK. Alex DUNN, 2. Alex ISHIDA-LIVINGS, 3. David CYRUS (C) (5. Adam TONG 80’), 4. Scott BLACKMORE, 6. Victor BRAUNER (10. Ash ROSINDALE 81’), 7. Kenny KEOGH, 8. Jason BARRERA (19. Cuok DAU 67’), 9. Alex SALMON, 11. John MINGAS, 16. Matthew NTOUMENOPOULOS, 23. Brian WOODALL
Substitutes not used: 18. Jason COLLI, 21. Riley STEPHENSON
Yellow Cards: Cyrus 50
Red Cards: nil

Perth Glory: GK. Jordan THURTELL, 2. Riley WARLAND, 3. Luca BODNAR, 4. Jack IREDALE, 5. Cam MURRAY, 6. Jack LEECH, 7. Jamal REINERS (12. Michael MCDOUGALL 45’), 8. Sam RIAK, 9. Joseph KNOWLES, 10. David STYNES (C), 11. Kosta PETRATOS
Substitutes not used: 13. Bayley MONTGOMERY-BROWN, 15. Gomo DUKULY, 16. Abias BUKURU, 20. Stef KING
Yellow Cards: Riak 74, Iredale 90
Red Cards: nil