Inglewood United are finally off the mark in season 2024 after a stunning 6-1 win away at 10-man Perth Glory in Round 12 of the NPLWA - Men’s competition.
The league’s bottom side had lost their first 11 matches of the campaign but gave their unlikely hopes of avoiding the drop a boost thanks to a three-goal blitz late in the first half.
Alen Stanojevic’s side are now only six points off Glory, who occupy the relegation play-off spot after extending their winless run to eight matches.
Inglewood led on 18 minutes when Matthew Ntumenopoulous’ wicked inswinging corner caused problems for Glory’s defence, hitting the post and going in off Chris Tilson who was credited with the opener.
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Glory made life harder for themselves seven minutes before the break when Tadiwanashe Kuzamba committed a last-man foul outside the box, which was a fourth red card of the campaign for the youngsters.
From the resulting free-kick, Bradley Vlachy curled over the wall and in to make it 2-0, and two further strikes would see the visitors take full control before the break.
Chad Nilson drove into the box and fired across the goalkeeper to make it three before the winger’s corner was again poorly dealt with by the hosts with Jordan Brown on hand to crash home and make it a commanding half-time lead.
Joel Anasmo pulled a goal back when following in after Jaylan Pearman’s thunderous strike cannoned back off the post. But that would be their high point of the afternoon as two Inglewood substitutes joined the party late on.
Thomas Abraham scored one of the goals of the weekend with a 30-yard strike which flew past Robbie Cook, and then Rene Kisesa hammered in his first goal of the season after the ball broke kindly to him from Jordan Brown’s partially cleared cross.
Balcatta Etna and Perth SC gave them breathing room at the bottom with vital victories.
Etna are now two points clear of the relegation play-offs after stunning high-flying Fremantle City 1-0 to end the hosts’ 100% record at Hilton Park.
Ben Hinshelwood continued his strong season with the game’s decisive goal on 72 minutes which snapped Freo’s six-game winning streak. The former ECU junior beat the offside trap from Jon Corness’ pass and kept his cool despite the goalkeeper’s advances to pick his moment and fire in an eighth goal of the season.
Fremantle railed in search of a result to keep pace with the leaders but could not find an equaliser and the defeat came at a further cost when top scorer Ollie La Galia was shown a straight red card for a late lunging tackle.
Perth, meanwhile, are three points clear of danger with a 2-1 win over Western Knights at Dorrien Gardens the first league win for head coach Kenny Lowe.
The Azzurri were backing up from Wednesday’s midweek cup exit to Olympic Kingsway but led on 24 minutes when Gordon Perkins profited on a mistake at the back to square the ball for Sam Cook, who scored his fifth of the NPL season.
The lead was doubled 10 minutes into the second period when David Ninkovich’s deep corner was headed back across goal by Harley Orr with Franck Gamiz Quer there to apply the finishes touches.
Knights halved the deficit midway through the second half when Gamiz Quer was dispossessed by Kristian Santich, who ran in to score against his former side. No leveller arrived, but despite a run of one win in seven matches the visitors remain fifth and within touching distance of fourth place.
At the top of the league, Olympic made it six league wins in a row as they defeated Stirling Macedonia 3-0 at Kingsway Reserve.
There was no Liam Boland or Joe Knowles available for the leaders, but they still found the front a minute before half-time when Joe Hobson made inroads down the right with Sasa Njegic arriving to fire home.
Hobson netted just past the hour mark when Tyler Garner stole the ball from Shade Stewart and squared for the former Glory youngster to make no mistake.
The Green Machine added a third late on when Garner dug out a cross for Luke Hewings to finish flamboyantly with a clever back-heel for his third goal in a week.
The victory cemented Olympic’s status as league leaders and extended their advantage at the top to three points after Freo’s defeat. Perth RedStar are now second with Daryl Nicol’s hat-trick inspiring the defending champions to a 4-3 win at Floreat Athena.
Nicol was the late hero on Wednesday as RedStar advanced to the Australia Cup Round of 32 with a 2-1 win at local rivals Sorrento FC. He was in the goals again here after receiving Theo Leeming’s pass and squeezing past Jason Saldaris on six minutes.
Floreat upset RedStar on the opening day of the season in the northern suburbs and hit back promptly with a free-flowing team move. Nick Ambrogio slipped in Ethan Mom who opened his account for the season with a low finish.
A Kyle Murray free-kick put the hosts in front soon after, but Callum Salmon’s side responded with Nicol finding Joel Chianese and the former Perth Glory winger's classy finish made it 2-2 on 23 minutes.
It stayed level at the break but rapid-fire RedStar’s transition saw Nicol combine with Matty George, receiving the return pass and rolling into the corner.
Chris Saldaris made it 3-3 with a looping header from Murray’s cross, only for a second late twist in four days to come from the visitors. The winner was route one as Liam Reddy went long from a restart and Nicol, playing off the shoulder, ran through to lob home an 11th goal of the season to put him in a familiar place at the top of the scoring charts.
Floreat are now fourth from bottom 11 points, the same as Balcatta, after they received a six-point deduction for breaching the Code of Conduct and the Spectator Code of Behaviour. The club has submitted an appeal.
Finally, Bayswater City and Armadale played out an entertaining 3-3 draw at Frank Drago Reserve.
Armadale led on 11 minutes when Amir Ajan’s corner was headed in by Pieter Jacobsz, but Bayswater levelled midway through the first half when Chris Jackson made it goals in three successive matches as his effort hit the underside of the bar and was adjudged to have crossed the line.
Jacobsz restored the lead for his side with a nice finish via the post following good link-up play with Ajan. But Alun Vernals’ side should have led by more, as wasteful finishing and several good saves from Lewis Italiano kept their advantage to a single goal.
The hosts made them pay for those misses early in the second half when Gordon Smith volleyed in to make it 2-2 and goals in back-to-back games. But Armadale led for a third time when Ajan’s blistering drive from 25 yards left Italiano flat-footed and with no chance.
However, Armadale would be denied a first win at Frank Drago Reserve in the NPL era, as Bayswater equalised for a third time with Joshua Anasmo standing up a cross for Jackson to head across the goalkeeper and in.
Both sides had chances to win it in a frantic final 10 minutes with Jackson coming closest as Sam Hocking’s fingertip save thwarted the Englishman. In the end, the points were shared as Bayswater stay fourth and two points clear of fifth place, while Armadale remain eighth.