The final kick of Greg Sharland’s career has given Inglewood United their first point of the season, a dramatic 1-1 draw with his former Perth SC at Inglewood Stadium. Sharland, who earlier this week announced his retirement following a 15-year playing career, netted a stoppage time penalty to cancel out Andreas Theodosiades opener.
“There’s a lot of emotion after that,” Sharland said. “I would have loved to go out with a win today, but I wouldn’t have it any other way really. It was really special out there. It’s a good opportunity for the young brigade to come through now and I’m glad to go out like this.”
Perth were into gear quickly with Ashley Rosindale denied by Scott Blackmore and Aleks Vrteski in the first few minutes. David Micevski looked to set to score his first goal of Inglewood when he raced free of defence only to be thwarted by Alex Dunn. Vrteski ensured the score remained level by palming away Reece Vittiglia’s drive just before the break.
The deadlock was broken soon after the re-start, Theodosiades streaming out of midfield before lifting into the top corner from 20-metres. Carlo Coelho had been on the park only a few moments when he came agonisingly close to adding a second to Perth’s tally when he side-footed against the upright.
Abdul Sesay was similarly unlucky not to equalise soon after his entry but Rocco Pizzata did just enough to prevent his opponent from hitting the target. Inglewood reward arrived in the 94th minute when Sharland stepped up to fire into the roof of the net following a foul on David Sesay.
Michael Garcia was understandably delighted with the way his players responded to last week’s heavy loss at the hands of Cockburn City. “I’m very pleased with the performance,” said the Inglewood coach. “There was definitely a turn-around after last week.”
“The players were disappointed, but the season has only just begun and it may take time for the players to gel,” continued Garcia. “Now we need to feed off the energy from today’s result. Bayswater City are the benchmark, so it certainly doesn’t get any easier next week.”
Match stats
Inglewood United 1 (Sharland 94)
Perth SC 1 (Theodosiades 46)
Inglewood United: Aleks Vrteski, Jason Colli (Scott Witschge 61), Jovo Pavlovic, Scott Blackmore, Rikki Smith, Ryan Clarke, Matthew Izzo (Abdul Sesay 66), Greg Sharland, Andrija Jukic, David Sesay, David Micevski (John Thornley 83)
Perth SC: Alex Dunn, Joshua Wilkins, Callum O’Connell, Dean Evans, Marco Santalucia, Rocco Pizzata, Clark Keltie, Mark Pritchard, Andreas Theodosiades (Aden Da Luz 77), Reece Vittiglia (Carlo Coelho 71), Ashley Rosindale (Nicholas Ambrogio 87)
Bookings: Sharland (94)
Dismissals: Nil
