Olympic Kingsway goalkeeper Mark Birighitti saved a late penalty as his side drew 1-1 with Bayswater City in their heavyweight clash in the New Balance NPL WA Men’s competition.
The Round 20 result means Kingsway are two points ahead of Bayswater and Perth RedStar, who dropped a place to third after losing at Sorrento FC.
But while Olympic and RedStar have only two matches left to play, Bayswater have a game in hand next Saturday at home to Sorrento, knowing a win will lift them to the top.
In a feisty affair at Madman Arena between the past two league winners, Chris Jackson’s diving header from a Declan Hughes free-kick went just wide for Bayswater, while at the other end Liam Boland’s effort was saved by Lewis Italiano.
Then just as it seemed as though the first half would end scoreless, Jackson’s near-post header from Pat Loughrey’s corner gave Bayswater a lead on the stroke of half-time.
Jawad Rezai’s shot was saved at the near post by Italiano as Kingsway pressed for an equaliser. And they got it with a quarter of an hour remaining when substitute Danny De Silva crossed for Younous Sow to nod in his first goal of the campaign from six yards.
The battle continued into the final 10 minutes and Bayswater were awarded a penalty when Jack Clisby upended Jahce Novello. But Birighitti sprung low to his right to save Hughes’ spot-kick.
The drama didn’t end there and both teams could have won it late on. Cameron Teece was denied by Birighitti, before Harley Orr planted a header wide of the Baysie goal from Reegan Mimnaugh’s cross.
The stalemate has set up a fascinating final few weeks of the season, with RedStar still in the title mix despite losing 1-0 at Sorrento.
There were opportunities at both ends in the opening half. Will Richards struck the bar from distance for Sorrento, while Gulls goalkeeper Ben Ratajczak saved Aaron Black’s deflected effort and then denied Jacob Evans.
RedStar continued to press after the break and Ratajczak saved again from Black with Gordon Smith nodding the follow-up wide, before the keeper denied Evans once more after he was slipped through by Riley Warland.
But despite having the better of the second half, RedStar came away empty-handed and are now three games without a goal after Sorrento stunned them eight minutes from time.
Defender Ronan Dowling’s determined run and cross found Dean Cummings, who picked out the bottom corner to end a run of four straight losses for the Gulls and lift them five points clear of the relegation zone with a game in hand.
It is all to play for at the foot of the table too after the bottom two sides Balcatta Etna and Armadale drew 3-3 at Home Group Stadium.
The hosts were two up midway through the first half thanks to Tarek Atta’s double, with the mid-season recruit driving low from distance and then tapping in Charlie Betts’ cross from the right.
Armadale pulled it back to 2-2 at the break with Leigh Griffiths winning and scoring a penalty after being brought down by keeper Sebastian Medica, before Luke Desmond crossed for Abraham Mathet to poke in from close range.
Darius Ghinea’s rocket flew into the top corner as Balcatta led again on 68 minutes. But their advantage didn’t last long as Ali Mohamed headed in a Griffiths corner from six yards.
Neither side settled for the draw. Betts saw an effort was turned behind by Alfie Brincat, while Medica tipped over Corey Sutherland’s volley.
Balcatta remain two points behind Armadale, who stay in the relegation play-off spot on goal difference following Perth Glory’s stoppage-time equaliser at mid-table Western Knights.
Knights deservedly led at the interval courtesy of former Glory Academy forward Santi Flores. But Glory levelled 30 seconds after the restart when Arion Sulemani’s cutback was swept home by midfielder Ollie Evans.
Flores reminded his old teammates of his ability when he slalomed his way through several challenges to put Knights in front again on 54 minutes. And they held that lead until the 90-minute mark, as Glory looked set to drop into the bottom two. But the visitors rescued a point as Sulemani slotted home from Louis Sollitt’s clever pass and extended the youngsters’ unbeaten run to three games.
Dianella White Eagles are now just two points above the drop zone after a bad day that saw them lose 2-1 to Stirling Macedonia hours after Ian Ferguson had resigned as head coach.
Stirling were 2-0 ahead by 25 minutes as interim head coach Dean Nicolaou enjoyed a first win.
Alex Tanevski gave Stirling a super start on five minutes when first to react after Calvin Whitney’s shot was saved by Peter Pilkadaris. The goalkeeper then came out of his box to clear Whitney’s through ball but completely missed the ball, allowing Callum McKenzie to score into an empty net.
McKenzie almost made it three after the break but struck the post. Instead, Noah Shamaki pulled one back from close range but it wasn’t enough for Dianella.
Finally, fourth-placed Fremantle City and fifth-placed Perth Azzurri drew 2-2 on D’Orsogna Cup Day at Hilton Park to remain level on points.
A brilliant backheel from Pieter Jacobsz put Perth in front on 20 minutes, but Freo’s equaliser was just as good with Josh Ridson’s 18-yard volley lifted over Luke Radonich.
Jacobsz made it 2-1 and 13 goals for the season when heading in Kurtis Mogg’s cross to move within one of Callum McKenzie and Liam Boland in the Golden Boot race.
Perth were reduced to 10 men on 73 minutes when Jackson Morgan received a second booking, and in the final few minutes Sam Pollard fouled Shubham Mokala just inside the box. Nick Ambrogio coolly converted the penalty as Freo kept their noses just in front of the Azzurri on goal difference in the race for the Top Four Cup.
