Rocky start for City and Azzurri
Football West News
Rockingham snatched a late winner last year to end Perth's 26-match unbeaten run. Photo by Jonny Warrington
If someone had guaranteed Rockingham City that they would be sitting one place below champions Perth SC after five games of the new season, chances are they would have happily signed up.
Sadly for City, Perth have endured one of their worst starts in years, which means it is a meeting of the NPLWA Men's bottom two clubs at SafeRad Stadium on Saturday.
Things at least picked up for the pair last week. Perth got their first win of the season courtesy of Michael Domfeh's stoppage-time strike at Inglewood, while Rockingham finally collected a point thanks to Brad Stout's penalty save against Balcatta.
For Rockingham, this weekend's game will bring back memories of last season's fixture when they ended the Azzurri's 26-match unbeaten league run via a late winner from skipper Lydon Hodgkiss.
Elsewhere, Balcatta face an entirely different test this week, with leaders Gwelup Croatia visiting Grindleford Reserve.
Gwelup were very impressive in beating Floreat Athena 3-0 last Saturday and Taki Nicolaidis' side are the league's top scorers and boast the meanest defence.
Floreat were strictly second best in suffering their first loss last week, but they get the chance to bounce back at home to ECU Joondalup, another side searching for consistency under Kenny Lowe.
Armadale, in third, have started the season strongly. Three wins from five and with the league's top scorer in Angel Andres Rivera, they will offer a real threat to Bayswater City at Alfred Skeet Reserve.
Perth Glory went down to Bayswater last week but are still handily placed in fifth. This week they face Cockburn City, who are one place and one point better off.
Sorrento battled back from 2-0 down to draw with Cockburn last week and nearly won it through Cameron Teece with the final kick of the game. They are at home to Inglewood, whose loss to Perth has left them third from bottom.
All of this weekend's matches will be live streamed on Football West's Facebook and YouTube pages.
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