Report by Alasdair Beer

Coach Chris Coyne is soaked in celebration after the game. Photo: Dom Giorgi

Bayswater City was crowned PS4 National Premier Leagues WA champions for the third successive season after overwhelming Perth Glory 4-1 at Frank Drago Reserve. 

Perth’s 5-2 victory over Floreat Athena gave Chris Coyne’s undefeated side a decisive 11 point lead at the summit with three games remaining and a deserved 2015 title.

“They’re hungry, they’re driven, the way the boys have worked since January has been fantastic,” Coyne said of his players.

“The determination (and) the effort every single Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday is second to none, and you add a bit of quality to a good work ethic and a good group of boys and you get results.

“I’m proud of the boys and everyone at the club.”

Coyne and Football Operations Manager Oriano Colli. Photo: Dom Giorgi

 

Bayswater’s celebrations began in earnest at the final whistle as the champions donned commemorative t-shirts and sung the club song in the centre of the pitch.

Despite the scoreline, victory didn’t come easily for Coyne’s men.

The hosts took time to break down a plucky Glory, but went ahead in the 37^th minute after some good work from Gustavo Giron Marulanda, who crossed from the left for David Heagney to finish via the underside of the bar.

However, the visitors had an immediate riposte a minute later, as Nikola Talimdzioski got down the left flank before finding Michael McDougall unmarked at the top of the box to hit a low finish past Devon Spence.

The hosts took time to find their rhythm in the second half and lost Heagney to injury after a robust Calvin Whitney challenge in the 66^th minute.

Todd Howarth took the resultant free kick just inside Bayswater’s half, and in a scramble following his long ball into the area, Maralunda was able to head across goal for defender Adam Tong to nod in.

Fittingly, it was the competition’s leading scorer Maralunda who assured Bayswater victory in the 74^th minute, finishing Sam Mitchinson’s good work on the wing with a cool finish from the middle of the area.

The Colombian striker doubled his tally ten minutes later, finishing Todd Howarth’s through-ball with a low strike into the bottom left corner.

He could have completed his hat trick after being awarded a penalty a minute from time, but his attempt to chip Jordan Franken went high.

Glory coach John Gibson said the result was part of his side’s learning curve.

“Our ethos for the whole year has been to be seriously competitive – we’ve done that for 67 minutes today,” he said.

“We had a bit of a fade-out, but we don’t look for excuses and today was a good challenge against a very, very good side.

Coyne said Bayswater’s focus would remain on finishing the season undefeated and continuing to build on their winning form.

“There’s no way I’ll be letting the boys have a jolly up in the next two or three weeks – we owe it to ourselves and to the integrity of the game to go and win,” he said.

“I think we’ve already got four or five more points than we did last year, so let’s go for the whole lot.”
 

Bayswater City 4 (Heagney 37 mins, Tong 66, Marulanda 74, 84)
Perth Glory 1 (McDougall 38)
Frank Drago Reserve
Kick off: 3:00pm
Referee: David Costello

Bayswater City: GK Devon SPENCE, 2 Declan HARGREAVES, 6 Todd HOWARTH, 9 Gustavo Giron MARULANDA, 12 Adam TONG, 13 Trent KAY (C), 14 Danny DIXON (11 Jamie MURPHY 78’), 15 Brian FARRELL (17 Bor Bor SAM 52’), 16 Jamie COYNE, 20 Sam MITCHINSON, 21 David HEAGNEY (4 John KEARNEY 66’)

Substitutes not used: 3 Aaron DELANEY, 25 Pasquale GIOFFRE
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil 

Perth Glory: GK Jordan FRANKEN, 2 Gian ALBANO (14 Hayden STEVENS 28’, (12. Sam McKearnan 74’), 3 Ross MILLARD, 4 Nathan COSTELLO (C), 5 Ali GHOLAMI, 6 Calvin WHITNEY, 7 Sean TROUP, 8 Dejan SPASESKI, 9 Michael MCDOUGALL, 10 Waliedin ISMAIL, 11 Nikola TALIMDZIOSKI

Substitutes not used: 13 Matthew NTOUMENOPOULOS, 15 Daniel STYNES, 20 Riley STEPHENSON
Yellow cards: Whitney 66'
Red cards: Nil