NPL WA Round 11 Wrap

As the Western Australian NPL reaches the halfway mark it's looking like the blue and black of Bayswater City will be adorning the trophy come season's end. They remained undefeated and further extended their lead on the ladder with a 4-0 thrashing of Stirling Lions. 

Apart from City's continued dominance however it was a round of upsets for the most part as high-flyers Perth and Floreat were bought to their knees. Armadale grabbed their first win of the season, whilst Subiaco, Inglewood and Cockburn all continued their recent good form. 

Stirling Lions 0

Bayswater City 4 (Marulanda 25’, 51’, 90’, Sam 78’)

Macedonia Park

A Gustavo Giron Marulanda hattrick inspired league-leaders Bayswater to a 4-0 victory over Stirling Lions. The visitors, who were on the wrong end of a lopsided scoreline against Perth the previous week, found themselves a goal down at halftime thanks to a Marulanda strike. Soon after the restart Marulanda added a second before Borbor Sam piled more misery on Stirling after their defensive clearance went straight to him. As the game headed towards the final whistle, Marulanda popped up again to seal the three points and maintain City’s advantage at the top of the table.

Subiaco 1 (White 90+4’)

Perth SC 0

Rosalie Park

A late winner from Kevin White propelled Subiaco to a shock victory over Perth. Following their 5-0 demolition job of Stirling last week many people expected Perth to do the same to lowly Subiaco. The teams however were evenly matched in the first half. Joshua Booysen twice came close to opening the scoring for the hosts whilst their goalkeeper Ryan Montgomery produced two fine stops to keep the scores level at half time. Azzuri ‘keeper Francis Soale saved well from White and Rory Feeley in the second half to frustrate the underdogs before Perth captain Clark Keltie headed against the bar in injury time. The miss proved even more painful minutes later when a long free kick found White, who prodded home off the post with virtually the last kick of the game to stun the visitors.

Sorrento 3 (Canham 71’, McDonald 83’, Salter 90+5’)

Floreat Athena 1 (Boi 30’)

Percy Doyle Reserve

Three goals in the last twenty minutes saw Sorrento come from behind to stun Floreat and hand them their second loss in as many games. The hosts started the better of the two sides but found themselves a goal down on the half-hour mark when the in-form Ludovic Boi weaved his way through Sorrento’s defence to open the scoring. The game was then turned on its head just before half-time when Athena goalkeeper Dejan Aleksic was dismissed for bringing down Sean Canham. After holding off a strong start to the second half from Sorrento, Floreat were given the chance to extend their lead from the spot but Lewis McMahon’s penalty was saved by James Morgan. The Gulls drew level soon after through Canham, before the striker’s cross was headed home by Brad McDonald. The hosts lost Daryl Platten to a red card in injury time but it wouldn't matter; Jack Salter’s late strike put paid to any chance of a Floreat comeback.

Perth Glory 0

Cockburn City 2 (Corness 79’, Murray 82’)

Inglewood Stadium

Cockburn continued their good run of form, moving up to 4^th spot with a 2-0 victory over a spirited Perth Glory outfit. The away side had the better of the opening exchanges, forcing City goalkeeper Curtis Aspden into a couple of good saves whilst his opposite number Jordan Franken did well to deny Julian Teles. Aspden continued to stop the surging Glory, denying Jacob Collard and Slobodan Vulin either side of half-time. Up the other end Rory Patterson thrice came close to breaking the deadlock for Cockburn, the last attempt forcing an incredible save from Franken. But just when it looked like the game was headed for a scoreless draw, Patterson fed youngster Joe Corness who fired past Franken. Liam Murray then made the points safe on a counter attack to extend Perth winless run to nine games.

Balcatta 1 (Zagami 81’)

Armadale 3 (Hodgson 45+1’, 51’, Cole 88’)

Grindleford Reserve

A Danny Hodgson-inspired Armadale shocked Balcatta to record their first win of the season. An insipid first half came to life late when Gustavo Catarcione hit the post for Balcatta, before Armadale caught the visitors on the break and Hodgson curled the ball past Clint Davies. Armadale doubled their lead after half time through Hodgson again when he reacted quickest to Faustino Machochi’s dangerous cross. In response, Catarcione provoked a careless challenge in the box and won a penalty only for Dylan Wilson to save Steve Sokol’s attempt. Mark Zagami did manage to pull one back to set up a tense finish but Hodgson’s inch-perfect cross was nodded home by Sam Cole, much to the relief of Armadale.

ECU Joondalup 1 (Smith 51’)

Inglewood United 2 (Micevski 6’, Clarke 26’)

ECU Joondalup Football Stadium

Inglewood continued their recent run of good results with a win over a struggling ECU Joondalup side. United started strongly and grabbed the opener after just six minutes when David Micevski fired home from Abdul Sesay’s pass. Ryan Clarke then capitalized on a mistake from Ryan Lowry to make it 2-0 before the break. Joe Smith’s deflected strike early in the second half gave ECU some hope but Inglewood were able to see out the rest of the game without incident. The win moves United up to fifth spot in the league. 

Round 12 Fixtures

Cockburn City vs Inglewood United

ECU Joondalup vs Perth SC

Balcatta vs Stirling Lions

Sorrento vs Armadale

Subiaco vs Bayswater City

Perth Glory vs Floreat Athena