Report by Tommy Doleman
Fremantle City tuned up for Wednesday’s Hahn Australia Cup Round of 32 tie away to Maitland FC by winning 3-0 at league leaders Perth RedStar in Round 18 of the New Balance NPLWA Men’s competition.
It was a fourth win in five games for Freo, who move above Perth Azzurri into fourth place on goal difference, albeit Scott Miller’s side have played a game more.
RedStar’s loss was only their second since Round Five and leaves them vulnerable to the chasing pack below with six points separating the top five sides in the division.
In-form Freo got off to a fine start in Joondalup and led after 12 minutes when Josh Risdon’s cutback was swept home by Cam Edwards for the midfielder’s first goal of the campaign.
Liam Murray came closest to a RedStar response when hitting the base of the post. But the visitors pressed home their advantage late in the opening period when a nice team move saw Charlie Chechlacz’s shot blocked with the rebound volleyed in by Taj Bingwa.
2019 NPL Golden Boot winner Michael Domfeh came on at half-time for Fremantle and scored his first goal for the club when streaking away from the defence, passing Liam Reddy and slotting into a vacant net.
That goal came four minutes after the restart and that was how it stayed as Freo prepared for Wednesday’s cup tie in the best possible fashion.
RedStar’s defeat allowed Olympic Kingsway to close the gap on the leaders to one point after they won 3-0 at Dianella White Eagles in an evening kick-off.
Rob Harker got the opener on 32 minutes when volleying into the bottom corner from Jawad Rezai’s cushioned pass.
Joe Hobson added a second after the restart when tapping in Younous Sow’s cross from close range, before Aryn Williams sealed matters with a header from Mitch Oxborrow’s free-kick.
Olympic are now in second place after Bayswater’s Round 18 fixture with Sorrento was postponed back to August 8 ahead of their Round of 32 clash with Sydney FC at Frank Drago Reserve on Tuesday. Dianella, meanwhile, remain eighth and are clear of any danger at the foot of the table.
Elsewhere, it was a big day for the relegation picture as the bottom three sides are now separated by two points with four games remaining.
Armadale are currently two points above the drop zone in 10th after Leigh Griffiths’ 90th minute equaliser earned them a 2-2 draw with Perth Glory, who remain in the relegation play-off spot.
The travelling Army led on 18 minutes when Glory failed to clear Kyle Murray’s corner with on-loan Ali Mohamed poking home from six yards.
Two goals in 10 second-half minutes turned the game in the youngsters’ favour though. Achnaff Sayon pickpocketed Cameron Murray before racing clear of the Armadale defence to slot across Alfie Brincat on 67 minutes.
Soon after, Glory hit the lead when Lewis Donnelly’s teasing cross was met by Cristiano Farfan who scored his first senior goal of the campaign.
Sayon could have added a third but saw his effort turned around the post by Brincat. And that save proved to be key as Armadale squared things up on the cusp of stoppage time with Brincat’s long free-kick nodded on by Yannick Dao and bundled in from close range by Griffiths.
The late goal allowed bottom side Balcatta to pull level on points with Glory after two Darius Ghinea goals gave them a 2-0 win over neighbours Stirling Macedonia, who announced on Sunday that they had decided o part ways with Senior Head Coach Ago Mujic effective immediately.
After a goalless first half, Calvin Whitney’s low effort tested Sebastian Medica before Balcatta broke though on 70 minutes with Ghinea latching onto Eddie Wilcock’s long throw to run in and score.
Ghinea beat the offside trap from Jon Stynes’ pass two minutes from time to net again as Etna made it back-to-back wins to shake up the standings, whilst also hurting Stirling’s hopes of reaching the top four. Mujic leaves Stirling after leading them to last year’s State Cup and the Night Series earlier this year.
On Friday night, Perth Azzurri and Western Knights shared the spoils in an exciting 3-3 draw.
Two nicely worked goals had the home side cruising with Jackson Morgan side-footing in a first goal of the season from Jamie McNelis’ cross. Then, Sam Riak rolled under an advancing Sam Reilly following good combination play down the right led by Zayd Farah.
But Knights came out with renewed energy after the restart and turned the contest on its head. Kosta Sparta capitalised on a mix-up at the back to slot into an empty net before Justin Tang scored at the second time of asking to make it 2-2 after 62 minutes.
Sparta linked up with Aaron Pike down the right who crossed for Jesse Lazzaro to arrive and put Knights in front. However, they could not hold onto the advantage and conceded an equaliser which dents their outside hopes of a push for the post-season.
Pieter Jacobsz got it after a deflected shot broke his way to make it six goals in his past three games. But despite extending their unbeaten run to 10 games, Perth ultimately slipped out of the top four after Freo’s big win on Saturday.
