Three goals in the final nine minutes saw Western Knights defeat nine-man Perth Glory 5-2 on Saturday to return to the top four of the NPLWA - Men’s competition.
It was a first victory in five matches for Adam Kostrencic’s side, who have slid down the league in recent weeks after starting the season with four straight wins.
Glory, meanwhile, have lost six in a row and remain in the relegation play-off spot, one of three sides on eight points. They dismissed academy coaches John and Steve Walmsley earlier in the week and promoted former Knights head coach Ivan Zuvela from the 20s to look after the NPL first team.
Knights led on 21 minutes when Kristian Santich’s cross broke nicely for Kosta Sparta to volley home. But Glory responded either side of the interval to go in front.
Jaylan Pearman stung the palms of Sam Hocking from distance with Sebastian Despotovski following in to make it 1-1 at the break. Then early in the second half, Pearman was involved again as the Joeys midfielder set off on a fleet-footed run before linking up with Despotovski and finishing in style from the edge of the box.
The visitors were then awarded a penalty with 20 minutes remaining when William Freney was adjudged to have brought down Owen Goodliffe in the box. The forward got up and converted from the spot for 2-2.
Knights’ decisive spell in the game started when Glory’s Andriano Lebib collected a second yellow card for an off-ball incident. From the resulting free-kick, Jay Sheridan curled superbly into the top corner to open his account for the season.
Pearman’s second yellow card minutes later reduced the youngsters to nine players and Knights soon capitalised to make it four when Santich nodded through for Asher Hwight to lift a finish over Robert Cook.
Alex Da Rocha’s left-footed long-ranger picked out the bottom corner to cap a much-needed win as Knights jumped from seventh up to fourth.
The three sides above them all won, as Olympic Kingsway continue to lead the way following a 2-0 victory over Balcatta Etna.
Aryn Williams got the opener against his former side on 18 minutes as Balcatta failed to clear a corner and the defender found the net despite Connor Campbell getting a glove to his effort.
Another Oxborrow set-piece ensured Kingsway made it four wins in a row, and eight games without defeat. The former A-League midfielder lifted to the back post and Calum O’Connell’s header beat the retreating Rostyn Griffiths on the line.
Kingsway are a point clear of Fremantle City who also maintained their fantastic form with a 3-0 win away at Inglewood United, who are eight points adrift at the bottom having lost all 10 of their league games.
Inglewood parted ways with Taki Nicolaidis last week. But if they thought a change of head coach would bring a change of luck then they were soon given a reality check as caretaker coach Alex Stanojevic saw his team reduced to 10 men early on.
Goalkeeper Nic Speca was shown a red card for bringing down Ollie La Galia outside the box and the mistake was further punished when Charlie Chechlacz scored the resulting free-kick to make it 1-0 for his second goal in two matches.
Matty Sparrow’s side made sure of their fifth win in a row after the break. English midfielder Chechlacz won a 50-50 and released Riley Woodcock, who in turn fed Pat Loughrey who shot home via the underside of the bar to double the lead.
The Irish winger turned provider late on when his free-kick was headed in by an unmarked La Galia who became the league’s outright leading scorer with his ninth goal of the season.
In third place and three points off the top are Perth RedStar, who extended their winning run to four games with a 4-1 success at Perth SC.
The evening kick-off at Dorrien Gardens was played in front of a healthy crowd in conjunction with the adjacent Little Italy Festival. On the pitch, Daryl Nicol opened the scoring with the Scot drifting into space from a set-piece before finishing with aplomb on the second phase.
RedStar’s second came when Matty George threaded an inch-perfect pass through for Bryce Bafford to roll under goalkeeper Joe Pollard for 2-0 at half-time.
The game was all but wrapped up early in the second half with two quickfire goals. Declan Hughes’ free-kick caught Perth’s defence napping, allowing Nicol to run in to score. Then a nicely constructed move resulted in George laying off for Joel Chianese to fire home a first-time finish from 18 yards.
Gordon Perkins got the Azzurri’s consolation with a low strike from 18 yards but Perth were well beaten and they are now five games without a win in the league despite the club’s run to the WA semi-final of the Australia Cup.
Elsewhere, Bayswater City and Floreat Athena lost ground on the leaders after their 1-1 draw at Frank Drago Reserve.
Baysie struck both posts before the break through Chris Jackson and Cam Teece, while Kyle Murray nodded wide from Alex Christodoulakis’ cross with Athena’s best move of the half. But Vas Vujacic’s side were much improved after the break and led midway through the second half when Sean McManus set off on a mazy run before scoring past Lewis Italiano for his third of the campaign.
Bayswater equalised with 11 minutes left as Tom Southgate’s long diagonal ball was helped back across goal by Joshua Anasmo and Chris Jackson stooped to head in from six yards.
That was the Englishman’s fifth league goal, all of which have been scored at home, but no winner arrived as both sides had to be content with a point. Bayswater are unbeaten in five now, while Floreat’s winless run extends to three.
Finally, Armadale produced the performance of the day as they thrashed Stirling Macedonia 5-0 to ignite their top-four hopes.
The hosts went ahead when Pieter Jacobsz sent James Bosdet the wrong way from the penalty spot, and it was 2-0 when Amir Ajan’s defence-splitter found Chan Yelchan who finished with confidence.
Yelchan completed a brace to make it 3-0 at half-time with a close-range effort after Jacobsz’s initial shot was saved. Then off-season recruit then stood up the cross for Jacobsz’ stunning acrobatic finish as his scissor kick nestled in the back of the net for four.
Ajan’s inswinging free-kick from wide on the left beat everyone on its way through to make it 5-0, which was sweet revenge for the hosts who suffered defeat by the same scoreline in last season’s clash at Alfred Skeet Reserve.
They pull clear of danger and are now five points off fourth, while Stirling’s run of two wins in a row ends after suffering their largest league defeat since returning to the top flight in 2022.