Inglewood United issued an ominous warning to their National Premier Leagues rivals by blowing away leaders Floreat Athena 3-0 at Perth Plasterboard Centre Stadium. Brian Woodall’s classy finish after only a few minutes set the tone of an afternoon in which Kenny Keogh and captain David Cyrus also found the back of the net.
The result moves Inglewood into fifth on the ladder, two points outside the top four and five points behind the leaders. “Today was a big statement”, new coach Andy Keogh said following his first home game at the helm. “We showed what we’re about and I thought we played and looked like league leaders. It was a great performance.”
“Everyone did their jobs, from the goalkeeper to the strikers. They were playing well before I arrived, they just weren’t converting their chances and were a little leaky at the back. Hopefully we’ve figured that out. It’s all about hard work (and) if you don’t work hard, you won’t be playing in my team. It’s as simple as that.”
It took just 6 minutes for Inglewood assert themselves on the game, Ashley Rosindale clipping to the feet of Woodall who expertly rounded the goalkeeper before angling into an empty net. In the minutes that followed Woodall twice cut in from the left but on each occasion his low delivery was just beyond a teammates’ reach.
Floreat rallied and would have drawn level on 23 minutes had it not been for Alex Dunn, who brilliantly tipped Jon Stynes fierce strike over the crossbar. Both teams were thwarted by goal line clearances leading into the break, Matthew Ntoumenopoulos denying Andrew Scaldaferro before Clayton Arnez frustrated Alex Salmon.
Inglewood extended their lead soon after the resumption, Keogh finishing with composure at close-range after being played in behind the defence by Jason Barrera. Any hopes Floreat held of working their way back into the game were extinguished just before the hour when Cyrus rose majestically to head in Ntoumenopoulos’ corner.
Dunn ensured there would be no consolation for the visitors by diving full-stretch to push wide Phil Arnold’s strike. Inglewood played out the final half hour by stroking the ball around the park with growing confidence. Salmon came close to adding a fourth goal but his late shot on the turn was too close to the Floreat custodian.
Match stats
Inglewood United 3 (Brian Woodall 6, Kenny Keogh 48, David Cyrus 59)
Floreat Athena 0
Inglewood United: Alex Dunn, Alex Ishida-Livings, Scott Blackmore, David Cyrus, Jason Colli, Matthew Ntoumenopoulos (Victor Brauner 83), Jason Barrera, Ashley Rosindale (Hamza Hima 87), Brian Woodall, Kenny Keogh (Chok Dau 71), Alex Salmon
Floreat Athena: Jason Saldaris, Shaun Timmins, Jesse Fuller, Chris Saldaris, Clayton Arnez, Jon Stynes, Jackson Morgan, Kris Gate, Dean Evans, Andrew Scaldaferro (Dennis Galan 75), Zelfy Nazary (Phil Arnold 63)
Bookings: C.Saldaris (74)
Dismissals: Nil
