Taki Nicolaidis has nothing but pride for the way his players saw off the challenge of a strong finishing Bayswater City on the weekend.   Inglewood United chalked up their fourth straight win, and maintained their place at the top of the competition leader board, with Saturday’s 2-0 defeat of three-time league champions Bayswater.

Brian Woodall stabbed in midway through the first half for his fourth goal in as many games before Grenada international David Cyrus doubled Inglewood’s lead with a looping header shortly after the interval.   Bayswater replied with some sustained pressure across the final half hour but were held at bay by a stubborn defensive unit.

“It was definitely a 90-minute performance, the boys rolled their sleeves up when the going got tough,” Nicolaidis told nplwa.com.au.   “I thought we were quite resilient defensively.   We had a bit of luck and took our chances.   They’re a quality outfit and they never stopped coming at us, but I’ve got to give credit to our boys for a disciplined performance.”

“All twelve clubs have ambitions of improving on last year’s performances and we’re no different.   We beat a good (Floreat) Athena side in Round One and to win now against the defending champions, it’s a big thing for us to build that momentum.   It’s a long season.   We’ll celebrate the win (over Bayswater) but come tomorrow we’ll focus on next week.”

Nicolaidis, who collected a State Cup winner’s medal in 1999 as an Inglewood player, returned to the club late last year as assistant to Michael Garcia.   He stepped into the head coach role in January and is grateful for the support he has received from the club for allowing him to assemble a squad which is proving competitive on the park.

“The club have put a lot of time and effort in so we’re aiming to get something out of it,” he said.   “To get players to buy into the system we want is easy when you’ve worked with them.   Some of them have been with me at three clubs.   We’ve got that understanding.   They know what I wanted and I know what makes them tick so it does make a difference.”