United fight back to record fifth straight win

Report by Daryn McCleave

Inglewood United grabbed two goals in 11 second half minutes at Cockburn City to come back from a goal down and record a fifth straight league victory in a fiercely contested battle.

Marc Anthony's Cockburn side, going into the game on a five game unbeaten run themselves, led for almost an hour following Rory Patterson's fifth minute strike.

But the lively David Sesay leveled just after the hour mark and then David Micevski grabbed the winner as United went someway to avenging the 5-1 home defeat to City in the opening round of this PS4 National Premier Leagues campaign.

Inglewood coach Michael Garcia declared himself ecstatic with his side, believing they could have won it by four or five.

"I'm very, very happy. The guys performed really well, created some really good chances and played some really good football and I couldn't be more pleased," he said.

"We've closed the chapter from round one. I'd have liked to have won 5-1, we had plenty of opportunities to repay that score but we'll take the three points and I'm very proud of the players today."

But the game didn't begin so brightly for the visitors as neat approach play on the edge of the box saw Patterson beat Aleks Vrteski with a delicate lob.

Inglewood searched for an equaliser before the break as Micevski and Andrija Jukic fired straight at City's Curtis Aspden from free-kicks.

Kenny Keogh tested Aspden with a powerful drive that was pushed over, before Micevski did beat the stopper, only for a defensive header on the goal line to save City.

Vrteski too had to be at his best as Patterson had a great chance to double his and Cockburn's tally, but his header from Harry O'Brien's cross was superbly pushed over the bar.

Cockburn came out after the interval looking for breathing space, but again Vrteski showed great reflexes to deny Julien Teles' rasping drive.

And Cockburn were made to pay when Sesay was on hand at the back post in the 62nd minute to convert Jason Colli's cross-shot.

Inglewood grabbed the lead and ultimately the winner on 73 minutes when Brian Woodall's run and lay-off teed up Micevski who left Aspden helpless with a shot high into the net from 15m.

City could only muster a couple of half-chances as they tried to get back onto level terms and extend their unbeaten run, but this win sees Inglewood jump ahead of their hosts into fourth place on the table.

COCKBURN CITY 1 (Patterson 5 mins)
INGLEWOOD UNITED 2 (Sesay 62 mins, Micevski 73')
Saturday June 27, 2015
Dalmatinac Park
Referee: David BRUCE
Assistants: Michal Jasinski, Adrien Liechti

COCKBURN CITY: 1. Curtis ASPDEN, 3. Jonathan CORNESS, 17. Eamon McNELIS, 5. Alan CARROLL, 13. Blake ADAMS, (9. Liam MURRAY 71'), 11. Devon GIBSON, 8. David ARAYA, 15. Harry O'BRIEN, 12. Feisal ZAW (6. Kenel MOUITHYS 78'), 10. Rory PATTERSON, 16. Julien TELES (7. Friday ZICO 66')
SUBSTITUTE NOT USED: 23. Jack ADAMS
YELLOW CARDS: O'Brien 65' Carroll 66' Zico 85'

INGLEWOOD UNITED: 1. Aleks VRTESKI, 2. Rikki SMITH, 14. Jarrod McNALLY, 23. Andrija JUKIC (6. Matthew IZZO 76'), 13. Jovo PAVLOVIC, 12. Tim GOULD, 7. Kenny KEOGH (15. Mohamed AWAD 78'), 18. Jason COLLI, 9. Brian WOODALL, 10. David MICEVSKI, 11. David SESAY (22. David PANAIA 87')
SUBSTITUTES NOT USED: 24. Jordan HOWELL, 16. Milan OGNEJNOVIC
YELLOW CARD: Jukic 45+1'




Comments

Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.

Turn your favourite sports memories into

A FREE NFT!

Use code: GAMEDAY

GameDay Splash Screen