Sorrento dent Balcatta’s top four hopes
Report by Colin Outhwaite
Balcatta were beaten 4-1 by 10-man Sorrento to lose all hope of a top-four finish in the PS4 National Premier Leagues WA.
Todd Harnwell scored either side of James Sammut’s equaliser before Sean Canham and Jack Salter put the game out of Balcatta’s grasp.
Balcatta dropped to seventh place after a loss in which they missed a penalty and failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage.
Although there is no finals series this season, the teams finishing in the top four will enter the Westfield FFA Cup preliminary competition one round later than other PS4 NPLWA sides.
“We didn’t take our chances and when you do that you can’t expect to win points,” said Balcatta coach Ramon Falzon.
“We knew Sorrento had a lot of aerial quality, but we still gave away silly free-kicks and failed to close them down outside the box.”
Sorrento started the game strongly with Harnwell finishing Canham’s header from a free kick in the 10th minute.
But Balcatta piled on the pressure and levelled when Steve Sokol gathered a wayward pass and skipped past keeper James Morgan before handing Sammut an open goal to score in the 24th minute.
Canham and Harnwell combined again on 54 minutes as the latter tapped in his second from Jack Eades' free kick.
Captain Daryl Platten set up Sorrento’s third goal 13 minutes later with a deep cross into the box, which the towering Canham converted with a leaping header.
Five minutes later Balcatta had a chance to get back into the game when Danny Cain was sent off for bringing down substitute Gustavo Catarcione in the box but Stallard hit a post with the resulting penalty.
Salter then sealed the win in the 86th minute, following a clash involving himself, keeper Clint Davies and defender Hanafi Ghezali, which resulted in the ball rolling over the goal line.
Jamie Harnwell was pleased to get the win given his side has won only once at Grindleford Reserve since 2010.
“I thought we deserved it but we made it hard for ourselves,” Harnwell said.
“We gave them a goal and a penalty and for a while tried doing things that were too difficult for us rather than keeping it simple and moving the ball around.
“But once we got back to basics we started scoring from it.”
Balcatta have dropped off Sorrento’s tail but Harnwell knows it’s still mathematically possible for them to lose fourth spot.
“Winning games is a good habit to get into wherever you are in the league," he said.
“We had a good run at the start of the season so we want to get back into that before the end.”
Balcatta 1 (Sammut 24mins)
Sorrento 4 (Harnwell 10mins, 54, Canham 67, Salter 86)
Saturday, August 15
Grindleford Reserve
Local kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Josh Manella
Assistant Referees: Stuart Moran, Alex Novatsis
Balcatta: 1. Clint DAVIES (GK), 2. Hanafi GHEZALI, 3. Kieron STALLARD (c), 4. Alexsandar SULESKI, 6. Ross DIAMOND, 7. James SAMMUT (11. Gustavo CATARCIONE 68'), 9. Hassan EL YASSIRI, 14. Steve SOKOL, 17. Kieran COLWELL, 23. Marc ZAGAMI, 50. Blamo QUAQUA
Substitutes not used: 21. Daniel PASSARELLI, 12. Jackson ASOMA, 16. Shazalee RAMLEE, 25. Slade RULE
Yellow cards: Stallard 36, Quaqua 53, Colwell 57, Sokol 63, Ghezali 85, Zagami 90+2
Red cards: Nil
Sorrento: 1. James MORGAN (GK), 2. Danny CAIN, 6. Daryl PLATTEN (c), 8. Ryan PEARSON, 9. Todd HARNWELL(7. James A. MORGAN 71), 11. Thomas BOSS (4. Shaun KILLKELLY 57), 12. Jack EADES, 13 Steven McDONALD, 18. Sean CANHAM, 19. Jack SALTER (24. Scott HOYLE 87), 20. Brad McDONALD
Substitutes not used: 26. Ben FAIRBAIRN, 60. Jordan BLANK
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Cain 72
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