Olympic Kingsway are one win away from winning the 2024 NPLWA – Men’s title after a goal in each half saw them defeat Floreat Athena 2-0 at Kingsway Reserve.
David Tough’s side were minutes away from clinching the league on Saturday, but a late winner for closest rivals Perth RedStar at Western Knights means they will have to wait at least one more week to be officially crowned as champions.
Floreat’s defeat all but ended their hopes of qualifying for the Top Four Cup as they sit six points off fourth place with only two games remaining.
Rainy conditions around the Perth metro area meant half of the weekend’s Round 20 fixtures fell victim to the weather and both sides found it difficult early doors in the northern suburbs.
Kingsway got the opener on 35 minutes when Liam Boland charged down Josh Hunter’s clearance from Joe Knowles’ pass with the ball breaking kindly for Boland to roll into a vacant net.
Knowles then had two excellent chances to double the hosts’ lead as he forced Hunter into an excellent save, before crashing an effort off the crossbar.
Sean McManus’ drive late in the first was straight at Adrian Sinagra with Floreat’s closest first-half effort, but the visitors’ hopes of getting a result were dampened as Kingsway went two up within minutes of the restart.
Knowles got it with an inswinging free-which drifted past everyone in the penalty area to nestle in the back of the net.
That made it goals in five successive league games for the forward and the Green Machine’s other starting attacker Joe Hobson also came close to scoring with his curler hitting the post.
Athena mounted a late rally in pursuit of pulling one back to set up a nervy finish as the home side successfully defending several set pieces.
Ajang Yuot’s deflected cross nearly caught out Sinagra at his near post before Ludo Boi’s header went straight at the goalkeeper as Kingsway ended up making it five wins in a row.
Saturday’s other fixture at Nash Field saw Perth RedStar win 1-0 at Western Knights courtesy of substitute Nyle Weale’s late goal.
Owen Goodliffe’s strike was well blocked before Daryl Nicol’s header dropped on top of the net in a first half of few clearcut chances.
Jesse Lazzaro brought a fine save from RedStar’s Liam Reddy, while at the other end Sam Reilly saved one-on-one when Bryce Bafford was in on goal.
It seemed as though the game would end goalless but defending champions RedStar weren’t willing to hand over their crown just yet and they scored the winner a minute from time.
Weale drifted into a pocket of space in the penalty area having been found by Bafford, and the substitute finished past Reilly to bag his first NPL goal and keep his side’s feint title hopes alive.
On Friday night, Perth SC took a giant stride towards survival after a 2-0 win over Fremantle City at Dorrien Gardens.
The result means Inglewood United are now guaranteed to finish in the bottom two, while Perth Glory must win all three of their remaining matches games to stand any chance of guaranteeing survival.
Jamie McNelis, pictured, got Perth’s first on 27 minutes when arriving to head in Abdul Osman’s inswinging free-kick from the right.
Dean Hurley saw his strike from Pat Loughrey’s cross saved by Rocco Liberti around the hour mark as Fremantle City ultimately went on to lose back-to-back matches.
Matty Sparrow’s side still hold a four-point cushion on fifth, but leave the door ajar for Stirling to overtake them or Bayswater and Armadale to close the gap with their games in hand.
Perth, meanwhile, know a win in either of their two remaining matches will secure their NPL status for next season. They wrapped up an important victory six minutes into stoppage time from a Freo attacking corner with David Ninkovich running clear to score the breakaway goal.
Stirling Macedonia versus Perth Glory, Bayswater versus Inglewood and Armadale versus Balcatta were all postponed with dates and kick-off times of the re-arranged fixtures to be confirmed in due course.