Inglewood United made a dream start to the new National Premier Leagues season, claiming a 3-0 victory over Floreat Athena under lights at Inglewood Stadium.   Brian Woodall continued his sparkling pre-season form by posting the opening goal but the points weren’t made safe until the closing stages when Mark Pritchard and Calum O’Connell netted in quick succession.

“Three points, three goals and a clean sheet – we have more than one reason to be happy today,” said coach Taki Nicolaidis.   “We had a lot of possession and we could have scored more goals earlier on in the game.   This is a result to celebrate … but we shouldn’t get carried away.   We need to confirm this result in next week’s game.”

Inglewood were quick to stamp their authority over proceedings by constantly pressing the visitors, who had Dejan Aleksic to thank for keeping them in the game.   Chances to score the first goal of the season came the way of Woodall, Ashley Rosindale and Scott Blackmore but each was denied by either the Floreat custodian or the woodwork.

Pritchard was again foiled by Aleksic early in the second half as Inglewood sought to translate their dominance onto the scoreboard.   That positive approach paid off on the hour when Woodall expertly fired into the bottom corner after taming a cross into the penalty area and fending off a couple of opponents.

Floreat attempted to rally but the best they could offer was a couple of long-range shots, neither of which troubled Alex Dunn.   Any hopes the visitors had of a fightback were extinguished in the 83rd minute when Pritchard unleashed a blistering strike from 22-metres which soared into Aleksic’s net.

Substitute Kenny Keogh had the ball in the net again shortly after only for his effort to count for nothing after straying offside.   That disappointed was forgotten when O’Connell tapped in at the far post following a tidy exchange of passes orchestrated by Keogh with only minutes left on the clock.

Match stats

Inglewood United 3 (Woodall 60, Pritchard 83, O’Connell 88)
Floreat Athena 0

Inglewood United: Alex Dunn, Adam Tong (Rikki Smith 88), David Cyrus, Scott Blackmore, Calum O’Connell, Mark Pritchard, Jason Barrera, John MIgas, Jason Colli (Paul Zimarino 84), Ashley Rosindale (Kenny Keogh 63),  Brian Woodall

Floreat Athena: Dejan Aleksic, Blair Govan, Bobby Wilson, Chris Saldaris, Dennis Galan (Matthew Izzo 76), Jarrod McNally (Ludovic Boi 63), Clayton Arnez, Declan Hargreaves, Andrew Scaldaferro (Sam Khankhalili 86), Aaron Delaney, Jon Stynes

Bookings: Rosindale (46), Cyrus (57), McNally (63)

Dismissals: Nil