Report by Tristan Wheeler

Armadale’s potent counter-attacking trio Kyle King, Joshua Tomue and Papa Kpatar were all target with a 3-0 win at Alfred Skeet Reserve on Saturday.

Armadale coach John O’Reilly praised his team’s performance, calling it their best of the season.

“Last week we got our tactics wrong, so for this week and the next block of games we need to be a defensive team.

“What we did for this game is a bit of a forward thinking plan that we are setting in motion for the next several weeks.

“The last three weeks we’ve tried to be an attacking team, for the next three weeks ahead of us we need to be a counter attacking team” said coach O’Reilly.

Floreat coach Glenn Grostate seemed to be at a loss for words to explain his team’s performance.

“I think we just couldn’t deal with today, it was one of those days, and they made us pay, so full credit to them” Grostate said.

Armadale’s dominance was largely due to their defensive solidity and constant pressure on the Floreat players.

Goal keeper Michael Craggs also had a match to remember who put his body on the line a number of times to neutralise Floreat’s aerial threat.

Armadale got off to a flying start, with King scoring their first in the 12th minute. After receiving a cross from the right wing, he controlled the ball before flicking it over a Floreat defender and poking it home from close range.

King would turn provider on the stroke of half time, sending a pinpoint right footed cross onto the boot of Kpatar, who turned it in from close range to double Armadale’s advantage at the break.

Tomue stepped up for Armadale’s third in the 75th minute, neatly turning the ball inside a defender before sliding the ball into the goal to seal the victory.

The win takes Armadale to ten points, while Floreat remains second on 17 points.

The victory should give Armadale confidence going into next week’s away clash with Inglewood, while Floreat will hope to rebound away against a winless Mandurah team.

Armadale 3 (King 11min, Kpatar 45, Tomue 75)
Floreat Athena 0
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Alfred Skeet Reserve
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Nico Hoyle
Assistant Referees: Anthony Walsh, Stuart Reeves    

Armadale: 1. Michael CRAGGS, 3. Jake SARDELIC, 4. Nathan COSTELLO, 5. Sam LOVELESS, 7. Charlie KENNA (19. Beau RAHIM 84), 8. Jordan PAVETT, 9.Kyle KING 10. Papa KPATAR (15. Jackson BEALEY 64), 11. Dannie RICHMAN, 12. Joshua TUMOE, 14. David ANNALL
Substitutes not used: 17. Jake ATKINS 18. Milan OGNJENOVIC, 23. Alec RADONICH
Yellow Cards: Kenna 60
Red Cards: nil

Floreat Athena: 1. Jason SALDARIS, 2. Shaun TIMMINS, 4. Andrew SCALDAFERRO, 5. Bobby WILSON, 6. Jesse FULLER, 8. Jonathon STYNES (13. Ali NAZARY 84), 10. Kristopher GATE 11. Dennis GALAN (20. Joe TWEATS 73), 12. Jackson MORGAN 15. Christopher SALDARIS, 17. Dean EVANS (16. Ryan MALTON 81)
Substitutes not used: 23. Jordan BARBAS, 33. Juma AWAKA
Yellow Cards: Saldaris 14
Red Cards: nil