Michael Garcia lamented his team’s slow start after Inglewood United were defeated 3-0 by Perth SC on a wet afternoon at Dorrien Gardens. The three-goal margin was somewhat flattering of the home team, who scored twice in the opening half before spending much of the second period on the defensive.
“It was a spell of 25 minutes in the first half that we didn’t really play well,” coach Michael Garcia told nplwa.com.au “When you’re down two-nil away against Perth you’re always climbing a mountain. When people look at the score it looks like Perth have wiped us, but there wasn’t much between the two teams at all.”
A slippery surface and persistent drizzle made life difficult for both sets of players across the first 45 minutes. Perth adapted to the conditions better and just before the quarter-hour captain Clark Keitie rose inside a crowded goalmouth to head in from Dean Evans’ dead ball.
Rocco Pizzata provided the ammunition for Nick Ambrogio to double the hosts lead with a bullet-like header that gave Aleks Vrteski no chance. It was only now that Inglewood began to find some rhythm but despite an increased work-rate and some crisp movement of the ball Francis Soale remained untested in the Perth goal.
Inglewood carried that same momentum over into the second half. Kenny Keogh headed across the face of goal before David Micevski shot straight at Soale. Brian Woodall squandered the best opportunity to cut the deficit by firing wide after latching onto Mohamed Awad’s cross and beating Soale.
The game was well into stoppage time when Mark Pritchard netted Perth’s third from the penalty spot, after Jovo Pavlovic halted Matt Milenkovic’s run inside the area. Referee Josh Manella further rubbed salt into the wound after the final whistle by red carding Abdul Sesay for dissent.
Match stats
Perth SC 3 (Clark Keltie 13, Ambrogio 36, Mark Pritchard 92)
Inglewood United 0
Perth SC: Francis Soale, Rocco Pizzata, David Cyrus, Marco Santalucia, Josh Wilkins, Clark Keltie (Josh Pereira 58), Mark Pritchard, Dean Evans, James Marocchi, Reece Vittiglia (Harley Orr 80), Nick Ambrogio (Matt Milenkovic 67)
Inglewood United: Aleks Vrteski, Jason Coli, Jovo Pavlovic, Rikki Smith, Jarrad McNally (Abdul Sesay 72), Kenny Keogh (Mohamed Awad 62), Andrija Jukic, Tim Gould, David Micevski, David Sesay (Scott Witschge 51), Brian Woodall
Bookings: Cyrus (18), Gould (37), Vrteski (90), Orr (91), Pavlovic (92)
Dismissals: A.Sesay (94)
