The National Training Centre produced one of its best performances of the season as it hammered a disappointing Armadale 5-2 at Alfred Skeet Reserve on Saturday in the final round of league fixtures that saw assistant coach John Gibson dedicate the game to departing head coach Kenny Lowe.

Striker Darcy Cosgrove starred with a hat-trick for the talented developmental side, but Gibson said despite a resounding team performance, the day was about one man and one man only.

“We’ve been really super-competitive this year but our theme today was really (to win) for Kenny Lowe who is obviously moving on (as head coach of the NTC),” Gibson said.

“He’s left a fantastic legacy - he’s an amazing man and he has done an amazing thing for a whole lot of players, coaches and people.

“It was a really good performance today – but apart from the footballing side of things, we have also produced a wonderful group of people and (although) winning was good, we’ve obviously improved dramatically over a period of time so it is fantastic.”

The NTC twice had the ball in the net inside the opening 19 minutes, but efforts from Cosgrove and Borbor Sambini were both ruled out for offside.

So it was slightly against the run of play that Armadale took the lead less than 60 seconds after the second NTC offside call – midfielder Rhys Loxley unleashing a powerful left-footed shot low into goalkeeper Jordan Franken’s net for 1-0.

Only two minutes later, Cosgrove again had an effort ruled out for offside but he didn’t have to wait long to get on the scoresheet legitimately.

After 32 minutes, Cosgrove’s weak shot somehow managed to slip through the grasp of home captain and custodian Cyril Sharrock before trickling over the line to level matters at 1-1.

Less than a minute later it was 2-1 to the NTC when Cosgrove latched onto a long ball before thumping a half-volley high into the net.

There was more to come from the NTC as a third goal was scored on 37 minutes when captain Blamo QuaQua curled a stunning free-kick over the Armadale wall and past the motionless Sharrock.

The entertainment continued and just two minutes before the interval the home side pulled a goal back when defender Sam Loveless headed in from close-range.

It was more of the same after the break and on 53 minutes it was 4-2 to the NTC when Lawrence Shuruma swept in Sambini’s cross from the left.

Armadale seemed to be simply going through the motions and conceded a penalty four minutes later – Cosgrove stepping up to side-foot the ball home and make it 5-2 for his hat-trick.

The game opened up even more so in the final 10 minutes with Armadale teammates Dannie Richman and Billy Quinncroft both going close and forcing strong saves from NTC ‘keeper Franken.

Second-half substitute Shazalee Ramlee smashed his powerful strike against the underside of the crossbar as NTC looked to finished things off once and for all late on.

But 5-2 is how it remained as the NTC secured a fourth victory for the year and Armadale officially finished the regular season at the foot of the league table with only entry into next season’s new National Premier League sparing it relegation.

There was some controversy post-game when referee Matt Southern gave Quinncroft his second yellow card and a subsequent red card for dissent, much to the disapproval of Armadale’s vocal home support.

Armadale 2 (Rhys LOXLEY 20’, Sam LOVELESS 43’)
NTC 5 (Darcy COSGROVE 32’,33’,pen 57’, Blamo QUAQUA 37’, Lawrence SHURUMA 53’)
Date: Saturday, 7 September 2013
Ground: Alfred Skeet Reserve, Forrestdale
Match time: 3:00pm
Referee: Matt Southern
Assistant referees: Bill Rice and Rory Jackson

Armadale: 1. Cyril SHARROCK (gk/c), 2. Dannie RICHMAN, 3. Luke BOGONI, 4. Nathan COSTELLO, 5. Billy QUINNCROFT, 7. Rav KUPPUSAMY (17. Jack BAMBER 59’), 8. Brandon CATCHPOLE (12. Chan WOO PARK 79’), 9. Malcolm TSHUMA (15. Brad HAYWOOD 79’), 11. Rhys LOXLEY, 13. Sam LOVELESS, 14. Mitch CASTRILLI

Substitutes not used: RGK. Tom ALLAN (rgk)
Yellow cards: Billy QUINNCROFT 73’, 90+3’, Sam LOVELESS 76’
Red cards: Billy QUINNCROFT 90+3’

NTC: 1. Jordan FRANKEN (gk), 2. Josh TUCKER, 3. Jeremy T’SHONGO, 4. Al SULESKI, 5. Ali GHOLAMI, 6. Blamo QUAQUA (c), 7. Mohamed BEYAN (14. Nick AMBROGIO 79’), 8. Jacob COLLARD (15. Pearse McKEE 87’), 9, Darcy COSGROVE, 10. Lawrence SHURUMA (13. Shazalee RAMLEE 68’), 11. Borbor SAMBINI

Substitutes not used: 16. Ryan BARKER (rgk), 17. Calvin WHITNEY
Yellow cards: Nick AMBROGIO 88’
Red cards: Nil