The regular season has ended in heartbreak after Floreat Athena snatched a dramatic 1-1 draw to deny Inglewood United their maiden National Premier Leagues title. Hamza Hina’s classy first half finish seemingly had Inglewood on course for the title before Chris Saldaris snared a late equaliser to send the trophy to Bayswater City.
Coach Andy Keogh took a pragmatic tone when interviewed after the game by nplwa.com.au “Set pieces are what did us,” Keogh’s said of Floreat’s late goal. “It’s been our Achilles heel this season. You get a delivery like that from Dean Evans, time and time again it’s going to hurt you, so that was our downfall.”
“A league is a league for a reason, it’s 26 games and it doesn’t get defined by one result on the last day, it gets defined by every game you’ve played that year. Looking back, we’re not defined by a set piece, we’re defined by the silly points we dropped throughout the season.”
A tight opening to the game had the majority of play take place between the boxes with the two defences clearly in no mood to be breached. The chance on goal didn’t arrive until the 23rd minute when Ashley Rosindale showed great control in a tight space only for his shot to crash into goalkeeper Jason Saldaris’ legs.
Hina cracked the game open seven minutes by latching onto Alex Salmon’s pass down the left, tapping the ball past the last defender then rounding the ‘keeper to arrow into the net. Inglewood’s lead could have been greater at the break but neither Matthew Ntoumenpoulos nor Scott Blackmore could get their angles right.
The second half opened with Floreat on the attack, Dean Evans and Zelfy Nazary firing narrowly wide within minutes of eachother. Referee David Bruce awarded the hosts a soft penalty on 64 minutes when Nazary fell theatrically inside the area, but Evans’ spot kick crashed onto the base of the upright and was cleared.
Kenny Keogh sought to make the game safe by surging down the right and playing a precision cross to Salmon, whose header was too a little close to the ‘keeper. Then, with only a few minutes remaining, Inglewood’s season came crashing down when Chris Saldaris headed in at the back post from Evans’ corner.
Ina desperate attempt to salvage the game and the season, Inglewood threw caution to the wind in stoppage time. Ntoumenpoulos’ corner somehow evaded substitute Chok Dau and Salmon as it passed across the 6-yard box. And appeals for a penalty after Feisal Zaw went down inside the area went unheeded by match officials.
Match stats
Floreat Athena 1 (Chris Saldaris 86)
Inglewood United 1 (Hamza Hina 28)
Floreat Athena: Jason Saldaris, Clayton Arnez, Chris Saldaris, Jessie Fuller, Edin Nilac, Jackson Morgan, Dean Evans, Ludovic Boi, Andrew Scaldaferro (Phil Arnold 59), Zelfy Nazary (Juma Awaka 69), Jonathan Stynes
Inglewood United: Alex Dunn, Brian Farrell, David Cyrus, Scott Blackmore, Alex Ishida-Livings, Matthew Ntoumenopoulos, Jason Barrera (Adam Tong 86), Ashley Rosindale (Chok Dau 50), Kenny Keogh, Hamza Hina (Feisal Zaw 77), Alex Salmon
Bookings: Nilac (10), Cyrus (62), Ishida-Livings (64), Morgan (66), Ntoumenpoulos (94)
Dismissals: Nil
