A trio of first half goals has put Inglewood United within touching distance of the National Premier Leagues top four. Ryan Clarke and Teeboy Kamara netted in quick succession with Ryan Francis following suit just before half-time to earn the club a 3-1 win over Perth Glory on a chilly afternoon at Intiga Stadium.
Coach Graham Normanton was pleased with the teams’ performance, which came seven days after a lacklustre display at Cockburn City. “When you get on an unbeaten run it’s easy to get complacent which I think we did last week, so hopefully that has taught us a lesson,” he said. “We’ve still got a lot of improvements to make but we’re having a good run so we’re enjoying it.”
David Perich fashioned the first opening after only 5 minutes by playing a tidy one-two with Kamara but his powerful strike was too close to goalkeeper Fraser Greenwood. Glory responded with Joe Knowles fizzing a half-volley wide after being teed-up by Gian Albano. Kamara was causing Glory’s backline no end of trouble and on 25 minutes a foul on the striker prompted referee Steve Gregory to point straight to the penalty spot from where Clarke made no mistake.
It took only a couple of minutes for Inglewood’s lead to be doubled, Kamara presented a simple close-range conversion after David Sesay nodded the ball his way. Glory got on the scoreboard after 36 minute when Albano’s shot on the run was deflected into the net by defender Scott Blackmore. But deep in stoppage time Francis restored the home teams’ two-goal advantage with a superb low drive from the edge of the area which was beyond Greenwood’s gloves.
Glory returned from half-time determined to find the net again with Borbor Sambindi leading the way. And although there was plenty of endevour shown by the away side they lacked the creativity to unlock a resilient defence lead by Blackmore. Inglewood, too, weren’t without their chances too but the closest they came to a fourth goal was David Sesay’s diving header which sailed over the crossbar. The win keeps Inglewood in fifth place, but narrows the gaps on fourth to just two points.
Match Stats:
Inglewood United 3 (Clarke 25, Kamara 27, Francis 45)
Perth Glory 1 (own goal 36)
Inglewood United: Luke Martino, Joe Pullella, Shane Pickering, Scott Blackmore, Jason Colli, Ryan Clarke (Sean Browne (84), Ryan Francis (Jarrod McNally 84), David Perich, Andrija Jukic, David Sesay (Abdul Sesay 68), Teeboy Kamara, 23. (C)
Perth Glory: Fraser Greenwood, Jack Oldham (Nic Talimdzioski 80), Anthony Bafabusha, Jacob Collard, Sean Troup (Lianafi Ghazali 65), Matthew Ntoumenopoulos (Waliden Juma Ismail 71), Borbor Sambindi, Gian Albano, Joe Knowles, Slob Vulin, Mo Beyan
Bookings: Blackmore (77)
Dismissals: Nil
