Report by Tommy Doleman

Photo by Fotoenzo

Bayswater City maintained their 100 per cent start to the NPL WA season as they came from behind to beat 10-man Inglewood United 2-1.

Ash Rosindale opened the scoring and then received a red card inside the opening 15 minutes for the visitors.

Substitute Luka Ninkovic struck early in the second half, before Jason Mirco completed the comeback as the hosts’ possession eventually told.

Inglewood had a couple of late chances to steal a point but Bayswater held firm to the relief of coach Chris Coyne, who still thinks there’s more to come from his side.

“I’m obviously not disappointed with the result but for me we haven’t started playing great football yet,” he said.

“At times we are doing it, but we aren’t quite doing it for 90 minutes yet and that’s what I want to see because we’re a team that like to play good football.

“We had a few chances to seal the game and make it more comfortable, but the boys did well to roll up their socks and get the result against a fellow contender.”

Coyne also spoke about the team culture at Bayswater after a fast start to 2018 for last season’s champions.

“You lose a bit of momentum after three months off, but we’ve stuck to our fundamentals even though it’s taken a bit of time for the new bodies to adapt,” he said.

“We have a winning culture here, which helps create belief, but we go about our business the right way.

“It creates a great team spirit because we all believe in each other and having good characters in the squad is just as important as having good footballers.”

It was the visitors who got off to a fast start, though, as David Cyrus met Ellis Healing’s corner and Rosindale got the final touch to glance in.

But the goalscorer would see a red card on 15 minutes as he chased a lost cause and lunged in late and from behind on Todd Howarth.

Bayswater took charge of the ball after that and came close when Alex Dunn tipped Paul McCarthy’s header away, before the goalkeeper palmed away Gian Albano’s deflected shot.

The game was stopped momentarily when Gustavo Marulanda went down with what seemed to be a serious injury. But it was his replacement that took the opportunity to level the score.

Mirco found space down the left, cut inside and floated a teasing cross across goal that Ninkovic attacked and headed into the net.

Another set-piece would complete the comeback as Howarth’s inviting free-kick was nodded home by Mirco to make it 2-1.

Adam Harris flashed just wide as he drove into the area and Albano was denied one on one by Dunn as the hosts looked to rubber-stamp the result.

Inglewood pressed late and had chances of their own.

Healing’s free-kick took a deflection and crashed into the post, with Steve Burton and Brian Woodall unable to divert the rebound home.

Jamie Murphy then latched onto Woodall’s perfectly weighted pass but could only lift the ball over the bar as Bayswater held firm to win a fourth match on the bounce.

Bayswater City 2 (Ninkovic 47 mins, Mirco 60)
Inglewood United 1 (Rosindale 2)
Saturday March 17, 2018
Frank Drago Reserve
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Michal Jasinski

Bayswater City: GK: Devon SPENCE, 4. Arran MAPLESTONE (21. Riley VAN DIRKEN 76), 5. Adam HARRIS, 6. Todd HOWARTH, 8. Paul MCCARTHY, 9. Gustavo MARULANDA (19. Luka NINKOVIC 35), 10. Jason MIRCO (23. Andrija JUKIC 88), 13. Trent KAY, 15. Paul LLOYD, 17. Gian ALBANO, 24. Jake SARDELIC.
Substitutes not used: RGK: Dejan ALEKSIC, 12. David STOKOE.
Yellow cards: Albano 42, McCarthy 45
Red cards: Nil

Inglewood United: GK: Alex DUNN, 3. David CYRUS, 5. Scott ROBERTSON, 7. Kenny KEOGH, 8. Jason BARRERA (6. Milorad VUJACIC 80), 10. Ash ROSINDALE, 11. Ellis HEALING (16. Jamie MURPHY 80), 14. Hanafi GHAZALI, 15. Brian FARRELL, 17. Rikki SMITH (19. Steve BURTON), 23. Brian WOODALL.
Substitutes not used: RGK: Michael COHEN, 4. Scott BLACKMORE
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Rosindale 15