Teenager Davide Panaia honoured his National Premier Leagues debut with the deciding goal in a hard-fought 2-1 defeat of Armadale at Alfred Skeet Oval. Panaia came off the bench late in the second half and, with just minutes to spare, secured all three points for Inglewood United after David Micevski had earlier given them the lead.
Coach Michael Garcia was pleased for his 19-year old match-winner. “Davide had a couple of games in the Night Series and has been playing well for the under-20s,” Garcia said of Panaia’s progress this year. “We gave him the opportunity today and he had an impact off the bench with the winner.”
Inglewood entered the game in an attacking frame of mind knowing anything but maximum points would severely damage their hopes of climbing into the top five. Only 5 minutes has elapsed when Ryan Clarke flashed wide of the target, and Micevski went even closer with a dead ball that goalkeeper Dylan Wilson managed to tip away.
The pressure on Armadale continued to build with a curling Micevski shot crashing into the upright. Inglewood’s persistence paid off five minutes from the break when Faustino Machochi unceremoniously halted Micevski’s run into the penalty area, referee Stuart Muldoon pointed straight to the spot from where the midfielder made no mistake.
Aleks Vrteski’s first meaningful action didn’t arrive until the opening stages of the second half when he saved well from Nick Crerand and stood tall to Jamel Yusof in the space of a few minutes. Sandwiched between these was an awkward fall which resulted in Armadale captain Reece Davies being stretchered from the field with a suspected broken ankle.
The pace was quickening as the two teams traded attacks. Inglewood’s lead would have been doubled had it not been for Wilson, who kept out Micevski’s shot on the turn. But the next goal came at the opposite end of the park where Jackson Bealey converted from the penalty spot after Machochi was felled by David Sesay.
Inglewood responded by taking their game up a notch. Clarke hit the underside of the crossbar but the ball refused to cross the line. It looked as though the scoring was over when Wilson’s sliced attempt to clear Milan Ognjenovic’s ball over the defence was pounced on by Panaia, who gleefully headed the winner into an empty net.
Match stats
Armadale 1 (Bealey 70)
Inglewood United 2 (Micevski 40, Panaia 88)
Inglewood United: Aleks Vrteski, Jason Colli, Jovo Pavlovic, Rikki Smith, Jarrad McNally (Milan Ognjenovic 79), Ryan Clarke, Tim Gould, David Micevski (Davide Panaia 77), David Sesay, Abdul Sesay, Kenny Keogh
Armadale: Dylan Wilson, Sam Loveless, Mitch Castrilli, Reece Davies (Ryan James 50), Jackson Bealey, Jake Sardelic, Caleb Dixon, Darren Francis (Sam Khankhalili 85), Faustino Machochi, Jamal Yosuf (Raveshlan Kuppusamy 72), Nick Crerand
Bookings: Loveless (72), Bealey (91)
Dismissals: Nil
