Rookie defender Joseph Pullella maintains Inglewood United are a far better side than their lowly position suggests. The inner city club stump up the National Premier Leagues table with a trio of losses but Pullella says that record fails to reflect the quality of football they have been playing. “We don’t deserve to be nil and three after three games,” said22-year old Pullella. “Anyone who watched us against Sorrento and Bayswater City would have seen us playing some great football. We’re disappointed to have no points on the board, it’s well below the goals we’ve set as a team, but we are confident we can turn the bad run of results around.”
Inglewood was on the verge of collecting their first point of the campaign last weekend when a final minute goal condemn them to a third straight loss. “To say we were devastated is an understatement. To match it with a team like Bayswater for almost all of the game and then concede in the dying seconds was hard to take,” commented Pullella who, result aside, saw positives in his team’s performance. “Bayswater have been the benchmark for the last couple of seasons and we were really pleased with the way we played. Once we settled down, especially in the second half, we had control of the game and really took it to them.”
Pullella has already learnt a lot in his first season of senior football, which comes following extended period away from the game. “Last year was my first year back playing after three years out, due to study and travel, and I had a really successful season with Inglewood’s reserves,” said the former Perth SC junior. “I’m really grateful to Normo (coach Graham Normanton) for giving me the opportunity to play first team, and to the boys for making me feel welcome and part of the team. With every game I play I’m growing in experience and getting used to higher intensity and pace of the game.”
Inglewood will be pulling out all the stops to open their season account this weekend, when they host Balcatta in the fourth round of NPL fixtures. “Balcatta had a good win over Armadale last weekend, they have a good squad and it’s going to be a tough game,” commented Pullella, who feels the time is right for Inglewood to kick-start their campaign. “For us, the hunger and positivity is there. We go into the game confident we can get the result we want and start getting some points on the board.” Inglewood and Balcatta pits skills from 3.00pm on Saturday at Intiga Stadium.
Courtesy of www.footballwa.net
28.03.14
