Inglewood United will look back on this afternoon’s meeting at Armadale as the one that got away after their ten-man hosts held on for a 1-1 draw. The Reds went down a player earlier in the second half and despite Inglewood’s numerical advantage they were unable to add to Farrell’s first half finish.
Wide pair Ellis Healing and Jamie Murphy provided much of the driving force as Inglewood launched a series of attacking raids following kick-off. That approached paid dividends on 22 minutes when Murphy’s looping shot came back off the crossbar and Farrell was on hand to fire in the loose ball.
With this Inglewood upped the tempo and the margin was very nearly doubled when Healing’s free-kick into the 18-yard box past narrowly beyond the reach of a trio of teammates. Armadale drew level with just minutes of the half remaining, Chris Jackson curling in a dead ball into Alex Dunn’s net.
The second half was only four minutes old when a contest between Jackson and Hanafi Ghazali ended in a straight red card to the Armadale player. Inglewood seized control with Jason Barrera running the show from the middle of the park through his exquisite touch and thoughtful use of the ball.
Murphy and Ghazali were increasingly finding space out wide but their delivery was more often than not met by an opponent. A late Armadale surge had James Atkins and Billy Quinncroft go close to stealing victory. The game was almost at an end when David Cyrus was forced off following a clash of heads with Nathan Costello.
Armadale 1 (Chris Jackson 44)
Inglewood United (Brian Farrell 22)
Armadale: Sam Hutchings, Joshua Kuser, David Annall, Nathan Costello, Beau Rahim, Ali Gholami, Charlie Kenna, Chris Jackson, Michael Lawson, Billy Quinncroft, Michael Rizidis (James Atkins 72)
Inglewood United: Alex Dunn, Scott Blackmore, Scott Robertson, David Cyrus (Kristian Despotovski 84), Hanafi Ghazali, Jamie Murphy, Brian Farrell, Jason Barrera, Miki Vujacic (Rikki Smith 68), Ellis Healing, Brian Woodall
Bookings: Healing (11), Murphy (27), Costello (37), Kenna (83)
Dismissals: Jackson (49)
