Goalkeeper Luke Martino is determined to end the inaugural National Premier Leagues with a bang. Inglewood United embarks on world football’s shortest road trip when they take on Perth Glory at Intiga Stadium on Saturday afternoon. And although both sets of players will be going all out to get the win, Martino says it is the ‘away’ team that wants the points for reasons other than the obvious. “It’s the last time some of us will play together and with Matt (Danskin) retiring and Ryan (Clarke) aiming for the Golden Boot it’s important that the team gets behind them on Saturday,” said Inglewood’s first choice shot-stopper.
Martino openly admits he’ll be glad when the final whistle sounds on Saturday. “Given the season that we’ve had, I think it’s fair to say we’ll all be relieved when the season is over,” said the 26-year old, whose team will finish the season in ninth place regardless of this weekend’s result. “It’s not acceptable given the squad we have. It’s been frustrating because up until a month ago we’d been giving ourselves the best possible opportunity to get a result from our games … it’s been hard to stay motivated when you know a top four chance was there but we threw it away.”
Inglewood’s season has been a tale of hope and despair. Pointless after four games, their winter was turned around by a seven-game unbeaten stretch which propelled the side to fifth place, only a few points outside the top four. But hopes of pushing any further up the ladder slowly unravelled over the second half of the season with just one win and three draws from ten games. “There has been very little stability,” Martino said of the season-defining run. “We’ve had a change of coach and different players in the squad each week, these circumstances don’t allow for consistency.”
And the fact Martino has had a dozen defenders line-up in front of him hasn’t helped matters. “The back four is where you would ideally have the most consistent line-up,” he commented. “While all the boys that have rotated through the defence can play, unfortunately they never got the opportunity to gel together for a period of time. That had a big effect on us as we never developed the consistency and understanding that was needed …. in every successful team I have played in, our defensive line-up very rarely changed.”
Martino, who joined Inglewood at the start of 2013 from Perth SC, rates this year as the toughest of his career to date. “It’s difficult to enjoy the season when you’re struggling in ninth position,” said the ‘keeper, who shoulders some of the burden for Inglewood’s poor season. “I’ve tried to do whatever I can to help the team and put in the best performance possible each week. But when we end up in the position that we’re in you always ask yourself if you could have done more. I think amongst the player group we all feel the same way about our own performances.”
Martino acknowledges a lot of hard work has gone on off the field this year at Inglewood but he maintains there is plenty more to be done if they are to be successful in 2015. “The club have moved in a different direction this year and there have been a lot of boxes ticked off-field,” Martino said. “Unfortunately, the results of all senior teams have gone backwards and we managed to lose two coaches in the off-season plus Normo (Graham Normanton) during the season. It goes without saying that there is a lot of work to do for next year.”
