Report by Matthew Corvi

A late penalty from Jordan Rhodes has stolen an away point for Mandurah City in their PS4 NPLWA clash against Subiaco at Rosalie Park on Saturday.

Despite having more possession, Subiaco couldn’t convert their chances against a resilient Mandurah City side, who claimed their third point of the season.

Ian McMurray, the Subiaco player-coach was disappointed his side couldn’t finish off the game.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t win it, we created enough chances to win the game” he said.

“We controlled the game but we didn’t take the chances we created”

Mandurah started out the more positive of the two sides, nearly going ahead in the first five minutes, only to be denied by a great save by Ryan Montgomery.

After a long spell of possession, the ball was crossed early out wide to Ryan Francis, whose cross found Jordan Rhodes on the edge of box. Rhodes maintained his composure from outside the box as he sent the ball into the bottom corner.

Despite Mandurah controlling the first half, Subiaco evened the scores on the stroke of half time.

Subiaco found their way into the box with seconds remaining in the half, and after a poor tackle on Ian McMurray, the referee had no choice but to give a penalty.

McMurray kept his cool from the spot, giving his side the equalizer as the half time whistle went.

The second half played out in reverse to the first, with Subiaco taking control of the game and open the scoring.

Winning a corner in the 72nd minute, Mike Lawson put in a precise cross onto the head of Rory Feely, who couldn’t miss the goal and put his side back in front.

With Subiaco dominating the game, Mandurah City earnt themselves a penalty against the run of play.

John Lockhart was yellow carded and conceded the penalty in a challenge against Alexander Grayson with both players needing to be substituted directly after the tackle.

Jordan Rhodes stepped up for the penalty and gave his side their second goal and the final goal of the match.

Both sides were subdued at the end of the match, with the news coming in that Alexander Grayson had broken his leg from the previous incident.

Mandurah City coach Doug Hesketh was saddened with the late injury.

“I’m absolutely devastated we lost Alex, we think he will miss the whole season” he said.

“It’s very unfortunate, he was the best player on the park by a country mile”

Subiaco 2 (McMurray 45min, Feely 73)
Mandurah City 2 (Rhodes 39min, 86)
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Rosalie Park
Kick off: 3:00pm
Referee: Walter Ciotti
Assistant Referees: Jake Friend, Julian Serra

Subiaco: 1. Ryan MONTGOMERY (GK), 5. Dylan ANDREWS, 6 Jonas DORLING (14. Ross JARMAN 73), 7 John LOCKHART (10. Owen COATES 86), 8 Mike LAWSON, 9. Rory FEELY, 12 Nathan SMITH, 16. Ian MCMURRAY, 17. Alex CASTIELLO, 18. David PERICH, 19. Stefan HILL
Substitutes not used: 11. Robert Harding, 15. Henock BUTSHIRE
Yellow Cards: Feely 38, Lockhart 85, Castiello 89
Red Cards: nil

Mandurah City: 1. Bradley EIFFE, 2. Oliver MCGEE, 3. Jeffrey BRIGHT 4. Matthew STARES, 5. Mitchell FIRTH, 7. Jack EADES, 9. Alexander GRAYSON (15. Slade RULE), 10. Jordan RHODES (16. Michael EVANS 90+4), 11. Ryan FRANCIS (12. Joseph O’BRIEN 68), 14. Thomas STRAKER, 17. Oriol FERNANDEZ
Substitutes not used: 6. Oscar THOMPSON, 21. Cyril SHARROCK (RGK)
Yellow Cards: Rhodes 33
Red Cards: nil