Alex Ishida-Livings said he was proud to wear the black and gold of Western Australian for the first time in last week’s Challenge Cup clash with Perth Glory.   The 20-year old defender made his State team debut in Wednesday’s friendly with Glory, who ran out 5-2 winners on a wet and windy night at Perth Plasterboard Centre Stadium.

Ishida-Livings has been a key feature of Inglewood United’s defence this season but admits he was surprised when informed he’d been selected to represent the State.  “It was a huge honour to make my State team debut against Glory,” said Ishida-Livings, who played the opening 45 minutes of the Challenge Cup alongside club mate Alex Salmon.

“If I’m honest, I wasn’t sure if I was ready nor deserving of a State team call-up so I was very surprised when I got the message that I’d been selected.   While there were a few nerves to begin with, I felt that I quickly settled in to the game and I thoroughly enjoyed having the chance to play against such high quality opposition.”

Ishida-Livings has come a long way in his three years at Inglewood.   That path has taken him from Under-20s captain and Rising Star award winner in 2016 to first team regular and State representative in 2018.   And yet, the versatile defender feels there is still room for improvement in his game.

“I feel that I started off fairly slow this season,” Ishida-Livings commented.   “But a bit of time out of the team allowed me to refocus and I feel I’ve returned a better player for it.   As such, I’ve been quite proud of my performances lately, although I know I’ve obviously still got plenty to work on.”

Photograph by Vince Caratozzolo / www.fotoenzo.com