It was heartbreak once again for Inglewood United as Perth SC scored late to steal a 1-0 victory from this afternoon’s ‘West Australian’ Grand Final at Dorrien Gardens. Inglewood enjoyed the better of possession thanks to a best-on-ground performance by Jason Barrera only for Gustavo Catarcione’s to decide the game in the 83rd minute.
“I thought we were fantastic today,” Taki Nicolaidis said post-game. “To play two lots of 120 minutes and penalties and then to play fantastic football, have the better chances and do everything but score, I couldn’t be prouder of our guys. The way we were playing I was pretty comfortable, but we had one loss of concentration on the counter-attack … it’s pretty hard to take at the minute.”
Inglewood pushed into attack straight from the get-go, Brian Woodall heading high from John Migas’ delivery. But hopes that this signalled the start of a thrill-a-minute encounter quickly fell by the wayside as the respective defences efficiently dealt with any danger, meaning much of the game was played between the boxes.
Of the few chances that did arrive though, Woodall pulled wide from the top of the 18-yard box and Aleks Jovic did likewise from similar distance at the other end. Woodall came agonisingly close to putting Inglewood ahead right on the stroke of half-time with an exquisite free-kick which clipped the outside to the post.
Inglewood picked up the pace after the break. Adam Tong’s long throw into the 6-yard box was sliced over the crossbar by Perth defender Rocco Pizzata, and from the resulting corner Kenny Keogh headed wide. Francis Soale somehow managed to keep out Scott Blackmore’s strike from 9-metres and with the follow-up Keogh blasted high.
Barerra’s volley was blocked by the defence as the minutes ticked down. Then against the run of play Perth struck, Harley Orr creating space on the left to whip in a cross which Catarcione rose for unchallenged to head into the top corner. Inglewood continued to press in the hope of taking the game to extra-time without success.
Match stats
Perth SC 1 (Gustavo Catarcione 83)
Inglewood United 0
Perth SC: Francis Soale, Alex Silla (Nathan Diaz 79), Adrian Madaschi, Rocco Pizzata, Jordan De Leo, Milan Milenkovic, Nick Ambrogio, Clark Keltie, Aleks Jovic (Andrea Theodosiades 74), Harley Orr, Gustavo Catarcione
Inglewood United: Alex Dunn, Scott Blackmore, Adam Tong, David Cyrus, Calum O’Connell, Josh Pereira (Jason Colli 85), Jason Barrera, John Migas, Ashley Rosindale (Scott Witschge 70), Brian Woodall, Kenny Keogh (Mark Pritchard 85)
Bookings: Silla (56), Catarcione (90)
Dismissals: Nil
