Gosnells close in on Carramar as Division Two title race takes new twist
Carramar Shamrock Rovers’ lead at the top of the Men’s State League Division Two has been cut to a point after they suffered an upset loss at home against Balga.
Goals from Ben Wantee and Bleron Mamudi gave the visitors a 2-1 win at Grandis Park. Jack Bardsley had pulled Carramar level just before half-time with his 12th goal of the season, putting him one behind team-mate Jamie Gibson who leads the race for the Golden Boot.
At the same time as Rovers were slipping up, Gosnells City were thumping South West Phoenix 7-2 in Bunbury to loom as genuine title contenders.
James Burns scored a hat-trick in the opening half-an-hour, while Scott Pereira netted twice and Edward Wynne-Wilson added another as City put six past Phoenix before half-time.
An own goal and Corey Barclay’s penalty ate into the margin for the home team, but Aaron Coslani iced the win nine minutes from the end.
The chasing pack all dropped points with Kingsley Westside nine points off Gosnells after being held 1-1 by Joondalup City.
All the goals were scored in the first half, with Luke Salmon’s penalty for Kingsley cancelling out Jack Reilly’s opener. This was Kingsley’s fifth draw this season, while City dropped to sixth as the race for inter-divisional playoff places hots up.
Curtin University are fourth but saw their six-game unbeaten run end as Wanneroo City won 2-1 to pull six points clear of the relegation zone.
The Roos leapfrogged Canning City, who are without a win in four following a 4-1 home defeat to Swan United.
All the goals came in the first half. Ben Greaves got two, Jordan Lyall got one and John Monterosso the other as Swan ended their three-match losing streak. Cameron Hewitt got the hosts’ consolation late on.
Morley Windmills and Ashfield shared the points in a 1-1 draw with David Heagney’s first-half goal cancelled out by Samuel Faulkner’s 75th minute leveller for Ashfield.
In Division One, the top two sides won as Olympic Kingsway maintained their five-point lead with a 2-0 win at struggling Quinns.
A goal in each half did the job for David Tough’s side. David Perich got the opener with his header from a corner crossing the line before Nick Koefler could apply a finishing touch.
The second came 10 minutes from time after a nice move involving Richard Howles and new signing Michael Zimarino ended with Daniel Harrison hammering home.
Western Knights continued their chase in second with a 3-1 win at Forrestfield United in the evening kick-off, their fourth victory in a row.
There was a straight red card for each team in the first half at Crazy Domains Stadium with Reece Abrams and Jake Melia both adjudged to have denied goalscoring opportunities. The latter led to a penalty which Noah Shamaki scored at the second time of asking after Luke Martino’s initial stop.
Jake Sardelic got forward barely a minute later to pick out the bottom corner and give Knights a 2-0 buffer. Shamaki then twisted and turned in the area to fire in a third, and his eighth of the season, which put the game to bed despite Andrew Harold’s driven consolation.
Fremantle City moved up to third following a 1-0 win away to Subiaco. Veteran striker Gavin Knight provided the match-winning moment when steering home a cross from Hamza Hina on 48 minutes.
They replace Mandurah City, who slipped to a 2-1 home defeat to in-form Rockingham City.
Taylor Carter’s strike broke into the path of Shaun Mukwevho, who continued his good season with a seventh goal.
Mandurah have been in the goals this year, too, and equalised five minutes later when John Baird’s free-kick was glanced in by Craig Barker. But parity was only restored for three minutes as Robbie Galvin pickpocketed the Dolphins defence and ran clear to slot in the winner. The day went from bad to worse for Mandurah, who ended the game with nine men after red cards for Alex Grayson and Harry Collins.
Murdoch University Melville are fifth after a double from Christos Vaenas helped them thrash bottom side UWA Nedlands 5-0.
Vaenas capitalised on a poor back-pass and kept his cool for the opener on 24 minutes, before MUM FC ran in four second-half goals.
Daniel Tait’s penalty doubled the lead on 62 minutes and straight from the kick-off, Taj Bingwa’s pressing forced an error from UWA, which saw the youngster go on a solo run and strike low into the corner.
Vaenas’ strike was parried into the path of Jason Pottier, who put in a fourth on the rebound, but the former Balcatta man had the final say with a lovely finish on the volley from inside the area.
Finally, Joondalup United replaced Dianella White Eagles in the top six with a 2-1 win at Forrest Park.
The visitors had won three in a row going into Saturday’s clash and went ahead when Sasa Njegic’s cross was nodded in by Daniel Mackenzie.
That lead barely lasted a minute into the second half as James Harmer tied it up, and Callum Stocks won the match five minutes from the end with a header from substitute Reece Corrigan’s cross.