Saturday afternoon cannot come soon enough for Scott Blackmore. It’s been a fortnight since Blackmore’s last competitive game and the experienced defender is determined to make up for lost time when Inglewood United hosts Stirling Lions this weekend. “I’m eager to get back into it after a bye (for the Cup Final) and missing last week’s game at Joondalup (through suspension),” said Blackmore. “Stirling isn’t an easy fixture, but it’s a huge game for us. After a largely poor run of bad results, a good result this weekend and will give us some renewed vigour and better form to close out the season.”
Inglewood’s season has slipped away over the past two months with a seven-game winless run dropping the side out of finals contention. And while that’s not a statistic that sits well with Blackmore, he says the team’s performances have at times not received the rewards they deserved. “We’ve played a cohesive and good brand of football for much of this year,” the defender commented. “For the most part, we’ve matched it with the bigger teams in the competition and a few of the draws/losses could easily have been wins … had that been the case, we’d be looking for form right now coming into the finals.”
It’s been a difficult time for Inglewood away from the field of play also, the club farewelling legend Siggy Kramer and parting company with coach Graham Normanton. “Losing such an esteemed club man such as Siggy is always going to be felt throughout the playing group. To us it was important that we acknowledged and appreciated just how much he has done for the club over the years,” Blackmore commented. “Normo’s departure also hurts. We, the players, are responsible for our position on the table and, ultimately, we’ve cost someone who was very dedicated to us their position … it is a direct reflection on us in many ways.”
Blackmore, 29, came to Inglewood at the start of the season after playing much of his career with ECU Joondalup. “It’s been a good change, playing with a new group of players and a new club is always refreshing,” said Blackmore. “It’s probably a bit of a different style of play than I have been used to, and I’ve had a stop-start season with time off to get married and then holidays. Results haven’t gone our way and we haven’t met our own expectations but I’m enjoying being part of Inglewood, it’s a good club with plenty of good people behind it.”
Spirits are similarly positive throughout the camp as Inglewood prepare for Saturday’s clash with fifth-placed Stirling. “We have a couple of players coming back into the squad and that should add some experience and balance a few things out a little better,” said Blackmore, who returns along with Teeboy Kamara, David Sesay and Matt Danskin. “Stirling always has a blend of experienced and younger players and, provided we can contain some of their more dangerous players and play the type of football we know we are capable of, there is no reason that we can’t take all the points this weekend.”
