Scott Blackmore considers this weekend’s outing with his former club ECU Joondalup as potentially the toughest of Inglewood United’s pre-season. The imposing centre-half called Joondalup home for a dozen seasons prior to switching to Inglewood United this time last year, so it’s fair to say he has a good idea of what makes the club from the northern suburbs tick.
“You can never be sure you’ve beaten Joondalup until the final whistle blows,” Blackmore said of his former club. “They are a well-drilled and organised side with honest players who are prepared to work. Even if they’re down by a goal or two, they are always capable of coming back to get a result as they’ve got players who can change a game.”
That never-say-die attitude stems from coach Dale McCulloch, who Blackmore played alongside throughout his Joondalup days. “Dale’s been there and done it all before,” he commented. “As a player he was always up for the battle and led by example, and that has carried over into his coaching and being able to motivate the team.”
Inglewood’s has set their standards for the new season high, as evidenced by a spirited display against Perth SC last weekend. “Perth will be up at the right end of the table this season so the game provided a good gauge as to where we’re at,” Blackmore said. “Although we lost, it was a positive game for us. We caused Perth enough trouble in large patches to earn at least a draw, if not a win.”
“I feel we’ve been playing well enough to take points from almost all our Night Series matches, unfortunately, that’s not happened. The squad is a good mix of old and new, experience and youth, and if we are capable of playing well against the better teams – like Perth – then we’ll have a good year.”
“A positive result (against Joondalup) would really validate the way we’ve been approaching our football and our performances on the park, as well as the work we’ve been putting in on the training track,” said Blackmore. Inglewood’s Night Series commitments come to a close with Sunday’s game against Joondalup at Litis Stadium, kick-off is 7.00pm.
