Inglewood United twice surrendered the lead in going down 4-2 away at Sorrento this afternoon. First half finishes by Ryan Clarke and Shane Pickering were countered only by Brodie Martin to have Inglewood in front at the break. But unanswered goals from Jason Mirco, Reece Vittiglia and Sean Canham ended Inglewood’s eight-game unbeaten National Premier Leagues run.
Clarke gained the visitors a 14th minute lead by surging down the left and guiding his shot beyond the gloves of Curtis Aspden for his tenth goal of the regular season. Not content with a single-goal buffer, Inglewood resumed the attack where Clarke, David Sesay and Teeboy Kamara combined well but were kept at bay by the home defence.
All the while Sorrento were also working for openings and on 37 minutes they equalised, Todd Harnwell sending an inviting ball into the area where Martin finished into the net. But just three minutes later Sesay was felled on the edge of the 18-yard box by Steve McDonald, and with the resulting dead ball Greg Sharland found the head of Pickering, who restored Inglewood’s advantage.
The afternoon began to unravel three minutes after the interval when Shaun Kilkelly pulled the ball across the area for Mirco to level proceedings. Vittiglia had been on the park just a matter of minutes when he converted to put Sorrento in front for the first time. And with 77 minutes gone Canham was afforded space to put the game out of Inglewood’s reach.
Graham Normanton lamented Inglewood’s inability to convert chances into goals, something which had plagued them of late. “I need to have real good hard look at to see what we need to get back on the bike,” the coach said. “We didn’t deserve to win, that’s for sure … but we are disappointed we have gotten off the unbeaten run.”
Match stats
Sorrento 4 (Martin 37, Mirco 48, Vittiglia 55, Canham 77)
Inglewood United 4 (Clarke 14, Pickering 40)
Sorrento: Curtis Aspden, Ryan Pearson, Steve McDonald, Shaun Kilkenny, Daryl Platten (Razak Geloo 66), James Morgan, Brodie Martin (Reece Vittiglia 51), Todd Harnwell, Chris Reid, Mike McGinley, Jason Mirco (Sean Canham 75),
Inglewood United: Luke Martino, Scott Witschge, Shane Pickering, Jason Colli, Ryan Clarke, Ryan Francis, David Perich (Sean Browne 82), Greg Sharland, Andrija Jukic (Joe Pullella 82), David Sesay (Jarrad McNally 82), Teeboy Kamara
Bookings: Reid (32), Pearson (47), Francis (86)
Dismissals: Nil
