Inglewood United had very few answers as a mobile Cockburn City side cruised to victory by 4-1 this afternoon at Intiga Stadium. Ryan Clarke provided an early ray of sunshine but, ultimately, it wasn’t enough as the Cockerels countered with finishes from Ross Diamond, substitute Julian Teles, Alan Carroll and Matt Barlow to take out the points.

Those arriving at the ground late would have missed Clarke dance his way past a couple of defenders and stroke across Dejan Aleksic with barely a minute on the clock. But for the next quarter hour it was all Cockburn with the ball rarely passing the halfway line. Luke Martino thrust out a glove to deny Barlow and minutes later also frustrated Diamond.

The only respite was a Greg Sharland free-kick which a full-stretch Aleksic tipped away from the bottom corner. Cockburn got the equaliser they were after in the 24th minute, Diamond lashing in from 20-metres. The pressure remained on Inglewood but some fine work by Martino and a goalline header by Scott Blackmore ensured the half would finish level.

When play resumed it was Cockburn who were on the front foot, David Araya rattling the woodwork and Carroll heading straight at Martino. Inglewood rallied and a superb Teeboy Kamara pass sliced open the away defence but Clarke’s finish was deflected away by Aleksic’s legs. The Cockburn custodian came out trumps again with twenty minutes by battering away another Clarke attempt.

Teles had been on the park just a few minutes when he delivered the knock-out blow by converting from 7-metres after getting on the end of Jesse Fuller’s well-weighted pass. The home defence was caught out again when an unchecked Carroll headed in from Conor Kavanagh’s corner. Barlow completed the scoring in stoppage time with another simple finish from close-in.

Match stats

Inglewood United 1 (Clarke 1)
Cockburn City 4 (Diamond 24, Teles 72, Carroll 83, Barlow 91)

Inglewood United: Luke Martino, Jarrad McNally, Shane Pickering, Scott Blackmore, Jason Colli, Ryan Clarke, David Perich (Teeboy Kamara 46), Greg Sharland, Ryan Francis, David Sesay (Matt Danskin 61), Andrija Jukic (Marc Eldridge 76)
Cockburn City: Dejan Aleksic, Blake Adams, Euan Grant (Shazalee Ramlee 84), Alan Carroll, Devon Gibson, Jesse Fuller, Conor Kavanagh, David Araya (Jonty Turner 84), Ross Diamond (Julian Teles 67), Feisal Zaw, Matt Barlow
Bookings: Colli (29), Barlow (58)
Dismissals: Nil