Defensive stalwart Rikki Smith is demanding Inglewood United finish the second instalment of the National Premier Leagues with a bang, not a whimper. Michael Garcia’s team entered the season half of the season on the cusp of the top four, however, hopes of progressing any further faded as results went against the side more often than during the past two months.

Inglewood can restore some pride and complete the season in sixth place if they can take maximum points from Saturday’s final round clash with ECU Joondalup at Inglewood Stadium. “We haven’t done ourselves justice this year so we are desperate to finish the season with a win and start looking positively towards next year,” said Smith.

Smith, who played for Inglewood between 2009 and 2013, returned to the club this year with high hopes for the winter months. “I joined Inglewood to challenge for the league,” he said. “The club retained the core playing group from last season and the gaffer added plenty of quality, so I certainly don’t believe our expectations of a top four finish were too high.”

“Unfortunately we’ve found goals hard to come by. Losing Greg Sharland early on was a massive loss, he would have chipped in with 5-10 goals, and we also lost Ryan Clarke who was close to winning the Golden Boot last season, so that’s another ten-plus goals. To be honest, we struggled to replace both players.”

“And instability in the defensive third has meant we conceded too many goals. It’s no coincidence that when we went on a really good run mid-year that we had the same five or six defensive players every week. Gouldy (holding midfielder Tim Gould) was a huge part of that run and we’ve tend to struggle defensively when he isn’t in the side.”

A strong statement on the weekend against Joondalup, currently third-from-bottom in the NPL, will signal the course Inglewood, and Smith are plotting for 2016. “Looking back on the season, my form was great in the first half of the year but I haven’t been overly happy with my contribution in a number of games in the second half of the season,” he said.

“Joondalup are always a tough side and our form as a squad has been very up and down of late. I’ll be working my socks off to help us get the three points on Saturday and, hopefully, we can enjoy a few beers after the game.” Inglewood verses Joondalup kicks off at 3:00pm on Saturday at Inglewood Stadium.”