Report by Bobby Stamatoski

Sorrento coach Jamie Harnwell was all smiles after his side held on for a deserved 4-3 victory over Forrestfield United at Percy Doyle Reserve.

The Seagulls picked up their first win of the NPL WA season, ultimately thanks to Jordan Roberts’ two goals in the opening two minutes of the second half.

“Like I said before the game, I thought it was going to be an exciting game and that’s how it proved,” Harnwell said.

"We've still got to get better. It's great to get the three points and get off the mark. Defensively we weren't good enough today but thankfully we scored enough goals and didn't concede enough. It's three points and we'll move on."

The first half saw plenty of action as the hosts came out firing from the start and were unlucky not be ahead in the first minute when Alex Morgan's header was tipped away by Ben Parry at the far post.

However, Morgan didn’t have to wait long to open the scoring after Roberts’ shot was parried into his path and he did the rest.

Sorrento looked set for a comfortable afternoon when they doubled their lead eight minutes later. Jack Salter played a great one-two with Godwin Darkwa then buried his shot beyond Parry.

But the deficit was halved shortly after when Forrestfield's Rhys Loxley finished on the back of great hold-up play and pass by Hasani Sinclair.

And five minutes before half-time Hasani was at it again as he went from provider to goalscorer. Sorrento couldn’t clear the ball at the back post and it allowed Hasani time to smash the ball into the roof of the net.

It was 2-2 at half-time but within a couple of minutes of the restart Sorrento had re-established their two-goal advantage when Roberts grabbed a quickfire brace.

But Forrestfield refused to throw in the towel and they pulled one back in the 56th minute through that man Hasani. This time it was from the penalty spot. He could only stab his spot-kick straight at keeper James Morgan but luckily the ball fell nicely for him to knock home the rebound to make it 4-3.

Forrestfield pushed hard for a late equaliser but the Sorrento defence remained resilient and held on for all three points.

The result was hard to take for Forrestfield coach Rod Banjac but he did seek out some positives.

"Extremely disappointed, taking into consideration the number of chances we created today. We could've won it five times over," he said.

"If we didn't have bad luck today we wouldn't have any luck at all.

"We played well. A couple of lapses in concentration in the first five minutes in the first and second half. Apart from that we played well, the game was all ours. We created a number of chances but just couldn't put them away. We are, however, still new kids on the block."

Sorrento FC 4 (Morgan 11 min, Salter 19, Roberts 46, 47)
Forrestfield United 3 (Loxley 22, Hasani 40, 56)
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Percy Doyle Reserve
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Michal Jasinski
Assistant referees: Frank Laval, Brendan Skinner 

Sorrento: 1. GK. James MORGAN, 7. Alex MORGAN, 20. Brad MCDONALD, 6. Darryl PLATTEN (C), 21. Godwin DARKWA, 19. Jack SALTER (11. Timothy HILL 30), 10. Jordan ROBERTS, 18. Jordan BROWN, 17. Reece VITTIGLIA, 14. Scott WITSCHGE (13. Steve MCDONALD 42), 4. Shaun KILLKELLY
Substitutes not used: 60. Anastasis FARSALEAS (RGK), 22. Danny JONES, 31. Joel PROUT 
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil

Forrestfield United: GK. 18. Benjamin PARRY, 12. Callum DOBBS (8. Mitchell CROCKER), 9. Hasani SINCLAIR (14. Benjamin ROGERS 89), 17. Jamie DUNCAN, 10. Jordan HART, 11. Liam MERIGAN, 4. Mark BARNETT, 23. Rhys LOXLEY, 5. Scott BARKER, 16. Thomas JEBB, 2. Tom SOUTHGATE
Substitutes not used: 1. Callum MILLER (RGK), 7. Leslie MARI, 6. Ger KLER MOO
Yellow cards: Crocker 88, Barker 90+3
Red cards: Nil