Balcatta beat Glory as bottom three grab vital points

Balcatta Etna picked up their first win of the 2026 New Balance NPL WA Men’s season with a 2-1 defeat of Perth Glory at Home Group Stadium.

It was a successful debut for head coach Basil Lenzo, who replaced Terry Nicoloau in the dugout earlier in the week. Etna have moved off the bottom of the league, while Glory have lost three in a row and find themselves just two points above their opponents.

Glory started well and led on nine minutes when Alfie Knight’s cross from the left went in via a touch off Luke Alessandrino at the near post. Balcatta levelled on 25 minutes after Charlie Betts pickpocketed Glory defender Jack Lennon and ran in to finish crisply past Jhett Warner.

It was all square at the break, but Glory made the running in the second half with Oliver Evans cutting in from the left and curling just wide, before Shaun Mutyavaviri headed over Evans’ free-kick. Etna stuck in there though and found the game's decisive goal 14 minutes from time, when Jack Allen’s free kick was misjudged by Warner, whose punched clearance looped into the back of the net. Riley Stephenson later made an excellent double save to deny Maxim Uvarov in stoppage time as Balcatta held firm to give their season lift off.

It was a good day for the sides at the bottom of the league as Sorrento FC won 1-0 against high-flying Western Knights at Percy Doyle Reserve.

The only goal was scored on 44 minutes when Dean Cummings stood up a cross to the back post for an unmarked Clay Gibbs to arrive and volley in.

Kyunghwan Kim almost added a second late on when he blocked keeper Sam Reilly’s clearance, but the ball somehow spun up and hit the crossbar. Alexander Jovanovic was unable to turn home the rebound.

Sorrento’s first league win of 2026 moved them within touching distance of mid-table, and two points clear of second-bottom Balcatta before the pair meet in a Round Five catch-up game on Wednesday.

Knights’ unbeaten start to the season may have ended but they remain second despite the defeat. As a result, Olympic Kingsway extended their lead at the summit to three points despite being held to a goalless draw by Armadale.

Joe Hobson went closest to scoring for Kingsway, with a first-half effort from outside the box thumping against the post.

The Green Machine are now the league’s only unbeaten, while Armadale’s resolute display in a game where both sides had their moments wasn’t enough to prevent them dropping to the foot of the table.

On Thursday, Perth RedStar moved into the top four after defeating Stirling Macedonia 2-1 in an open encounter at RedStar Arena.

Both teams traded chances in an entertaining first half with Stirling’s Liam Hattersley and his opposite number Liam Reddy busy between the sticks, while RedStar’s Aaron Black came closest with a curler which clipped the post.

The visitors got their noses in front on 50 minutes after a counterattack led by Callum McKenzie down the right. The Scot found Daniel Faichney, who teed up an unmarked Alex Tanevski to sweep in his first goal of the season.

RedStar hit back with two goals in five minutes giving them the perfect response to last week’s defeat at Knights. Black was key in both goals with his run and cross down the left eventually breaking to Liam Murray to crash in an equaliser.

Black’s nicely weighted pass then picked out Gordon Smith, who lashed in brilliantly on the volley from an acute angle to complete the comeback and lift RedStar to third and three points off the leaders.

Perth Azzurri are also in the finals places after a 2-0 win over Dianella White Eagles, who ended the game with nine men.

The highlight of the first half was when Albert Luwi crashed a shot off the bar for the visitors. The game then sprang into life 20 minutes from time when Franc Gamiz Quer was shown a straight red card against his former side for a last-ditch challenge on Gordon Perkins.

Perkins put Perth ahead soon after when collecting Zayd Farah’s through ball and putting through the legs of Dianella stopper Joel Driscoll.

Dianella’s cause was further hampered with the dismissal of another ex-Azzurri player, as Daniel Zivkovic picked up a second yellow card on 85 minutes. Sixty seconds later Perkins hammered home the sealer after bringing down Farah’s cross from the right and turning his marker. Kenny Lowe’s side jump from eighth to fourth in the standings, while Ian Ferguson’s team trade places with their opponents.

Finally, Fremantle City came from three goals down to earn a 3-3 draw at defending champions Bayswater City.

Baysie were three without a win coming into the match but Ollie La Galia’s first-minute header set them on their way early.

Charlie Chechlacz then hit the post for Fremantle, before Chris Jackson made it 2-0 from the penalty spot just past the half-hour mark after keeper Luke Radonich had flattened ex-Freo man La Galia. And three points looked in the bag for the hosts on 69 minutes when La Galia punished his former club further with another header.

But Fremantle had other ideas as three goals in the final quarter of an hour turned the game on its head.

Iljas Ahmedov started the fightback with good play down the left by substitute Taj Bingwa. Two goals in a minute then earned Freo a point.

First, Chechlacz played in Chad Nilson, who took a touch to finish for his fifth goal of the campaign. Straight after, Chechlacz’s brilliant pass released Ahmedov and the striker squared for Paul Zimarino to earn a share of the spoils.

The result extends Fremantle’s unbeaten run to five games while both sides end Round Six in mid-table.