Goalkeeper Alex Dunn is resigned to Inglewood United’s hopes of participating in a third successive finals series now rests in the hands of their opponents.   With two regular season games left Inglewood are level on points with fourth-placed Bayswater City and ECU Joondalup in fifth but trail both on goal difference.

For Inglewood to qualify for the Top Four Cup they will need to beat bottom-of-the-ladder Joondalup United then Balcatta, currently eleventh, while hoping results elsewhere go in their favour.   Dunn hasn’t given up hope of sneaking into the finals but admits his teams’ best may now not be enough to get them over the line.

“I hope we can qualify for the finals,” Dunn commented.   “It’s been a long season and we want to be competing for a bit of silverware at the end of it.   We need nothing less than maximum points in our last two games, however, it’s a bit out of our hands as we need to rely on other teams dropping points.”

Inglewood tumbled out of the top four following Saturday’s last-minute 2-1 loss to Perth SC, a result that means they’ve won just once in five games.   “That run has been very damaging,” Dunn said.   “It’s not necessarily losses that have hurt us, but more so draws where we should have collected maximum points.”

“The last two weeks have been particularly disappointing.   We threw away a 3-1 lead when we were in control against Perth Glory and that rolled into the Saturday’s game when we had to push for all three points for a chance at a top two finish, that left us exposed a little at the back and Perth punished us.”