Report by Jayden Lihou

Floreat Athena took advantage of Armadale’s injury woes with a 2-0 win at E&D Litis Stadium on Saturday.

Christopher Saldaris opened the scoring on the brink of half time before Nathan Scully put the game to bed on 71 minutes.

Armadale finished with 10 men after Raveshlan Kuppusamy was forced off with an injury.

Armadale coach Paul Price thought his side were unfortunate not to have gotten more out of the game.

“I thought overall we were the better side but there’s no point in being the better side if you don’t score goals,” he said.

“We had three ongoing injuries throughout the match where we had players receiving treatment on the sideline.

“And we actually finished the game with ten men, and even with ten men I still thought that we were creating some good chances but we didn’t put any of them in the back of the net.”

Floreat coach Glen Grostate thought his team was exceptional in what he deemed to be a scrappy game.

“Armadale are a hard team to play,” he said. “You have to battle and you have to fight for the points and that’s what we did today.

“I thought the defensive line was unbelievable today, the only way I thought we were going to concede was if we made a mistake.

“And we didn’t make many mistakes but instead we worked hard and scored goals at the right time.”

Armadale began the game positively when Papa Kpatar delivered a cross to Ellis Healing whose volleyed attempt went over the bar.

Healing was the architect in the 43rd minute when he chested a cross down to Anthony Skorich whose shot was just wide of the goal.

Floreat scored just before the break partly thanks to a thunderous volley from Phil Arnold.

Arnold’s volley from outside of the box deflected off the underside of the cross-bar and fell conveniently to Christopher Saldaris who made no mistake.

Floreat doubled their lead in the 71st minute when Kris Gate squared the ball across to Nathan Scully who had the time and space to finish into the bottom corner.

The away side had a chance to pull one back just five minutes later when Dannie Richman found Danny Hodgson inside the box.

Hodgson had his first shot blocked by a defender before it fell kindly to him again but his second attempt was wide of the goal.

It only got worse for Armadale as their final substitute Kuppusamy came off with an injury.

The one man disadvantage didn’t dampen Armadale’s spirit, however, as they mounted the pressure on the home side right up until the final whistle but the game would finish at 2-0.

Floreat Athena 2 (C. Saldaris 45min, Scully 71)
Armadale 0
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Venue: E&D Litus Stadium  
Referee:  Tom Dowle
Assistants: Hayden Frost, Adrien Liechti

Floreat Athena: GK. Jason SALDARIS, 3. Blair GOVAN (2. Kyle DOUGLAS 90’), 5. Bobby WILSON, 6. Clayton ARNEZ, 8. Jonathan STYNES, 10. Kris GATE (13. Daniel HEPWORTH 86’), 12. Nathan SCULLY, 15. Christopher SALDARIS, 17. Dean EVANS (C), 18. Phil ARNOLD, 20.Robert GASPER (11. Dennis GALAN 82’)
Substitutes not used: RGK Dejan ALEKSIC, 16. Sam KHANKHALILI
Yellow cards: Gate 31’
Red cards: Nil

Armadale: GK. Alec RADONICH, 2. Alex CASTIELLO, 3. Jake SARDELIC, 4. Jesse FULLER (C), 5. David ANNALL, 9. Anthony SKORICH (8. Raveshlan KUPPUSAMY 76’), 10. Papa KPATAR, 12. Dannie RICHMAN, 15. Nathan SMITH, 16. Jordan CANDLISH (14. Dylan WHITE 18’), 17. Ellis HEALING (7. Danny HODGSON 46’)
Substitutes not used: RGK. Micheal CRAGGS, 18. Brendon OFFER
Yellow cards: Smith 41’, Castiello 44’
Red cards: Nil