Inglewood United will have to take the long route to the Grand Final following this afternoon’s 4-1 capitulation to Bayswater City at Finance 365 Stadium. Andy Keogh’s team faces Perth SC on home soil on Wednesday evening, when the winner earns the right to play-off for silverware with Bayswater next weekend.
The game itself was marred in late controversy after an all-in melee broke out between the two teams, resulting in Golden Boot winner Alex Salmon being shown a straight red card. And after consulting with his assistants, referee David Bruce also sent Kenny Keogh and Devon Gibson from the playing arena.
Assistant coach Saul Contera was pleased with his players performance across the opening 50 minutes, but felt they lost their way once Bayswater took the lead. “From two-one down we didn’t keep our discipline, which has been a good trait of ours this year. We were sort of our own worst enemy in the end,” he said.
“We have got some guys on the bench that didn’t get a game today who will probably be in contention now to give us some freshness. We’ve only got one chance now, we’ve used up our lifeline so we’ve just got to go out there and try and win on Wednesday.”
A positive attacking start was rewarded by early goals for both teams. Bayswater captain Trent Kay opened the scoring in the 16th minute by nodding in Todd Howarth’s free-kick at the far post. But that lead lasted all of a minute before Salmon calmly slotted in following some good build-up play.
Alex Ishida-Livings’ fierce shot on the end of a driving run was blocked by Devon Spence as Inglewood sought the lead. Salmon’s audacious half-volley rattled the crossbar after being touched by Spence, who was called upon again to capture Keogh’s speculative effort under the bar.
Salmon and Rosindale forced further saves from Spence in the minutes following half-time. Those misses were compounded on 51 minutes when a dubious handball decision went against Scott Blackmore and with the resulting free-kick Todd Howarth curled into the top corner.
Bayswater extended their lead ten minutes later when Gustavo Giron Marulanda tamed the ball on top of the 18-yard box and rifled low into the net. The result was put beyond doubt in the 84th minute, David Heagney delivering a pin point cross which Jason Mirco headed in at the near post.
Alex Dunn single-handedly prevented the final margin from being any greater by twice denying substitute Luka Ninkovic in one-on-one situations, while also halting Bor Bor Sam’s powerful strike. Salmon’s frustrations led him to lash out at Sam in stoppage time, prompting his dismissal and an unsavoury end to the afternoon.
Match stats
Bayswater City 4 (Trent Kay 15, Todd Howarth 49, Gustavo Giron Marulanda 60, Jason Mirco 83)
Inglewood United 1 (Alex Salmon 16)
Bayswater City: Devon Spence, Devon Gibson, Todd Howarth, Trent Kay, Sam Mitchinson, Brent Griffiths (David Stokoe 83), Paul McCarthy, Andrija Jukic (Luka Ninkovic 79), Jason Mirco, Bor Bor Sam, Gustavo Giron Marulanda (David Heagney 79)
Inglewood United: Alex Dunn, Brian Farrell, Adam Tong, Scott Blackmore, Alex Ishida-Livings, Matthew Ntoumenopoulos, Jason Barrera, Ashley Rosindale (Feisal Zaw 58), Kenny Keogh, Hamza Hina (Chok Dau 71), Alex Salmon
Bookings: Blackmore (7), Salmon (11), Marulanda (29), Keogh (53), Griffiths (64), Rosindale (92)
Dismissals: Salmon (92), Gibson (92), Keogh (92)
