Report by Aisling Lawless

A red card, an own goal, five yellow cards and plenty of chances were the ingredients for a thrilling Rivalry Round game between Sorrento and ECU Joondalup at Percy Doyle Reserve on Saturday.

The tightly contested match ended in a 1-1 draw with Todd Harnwell scoring for Sorrento and his teammate, Steve McDonald, inadvertently steering the ball into his own net.

English midfielder Carl Rodgers also made his debut for the visitors and despite playing in an unfamiliar position impressed coach Dale McCulloch.

“He had to slot into the back at the last minute so I thought he did a really good job and I’m looking forward to seeing him in the centre of the park where he can ply his trade,” McCulloch said.

The Joondalup coach was pleased his side only conceded one goal as they had worked on tightening their defence during the week.

“Obviously the sending off dictated the game but I thought we had the ascendancy in the second half,” he said.

“With the spare man you have the extra space which opens things up.”

The deadlock was not broken until the 42nd minute when poor defending allowed Harnwell to comfortably tap the ball in after a scramble in the box.

Sorrento looked most threatening down the right wing with Jason Mirco swinging dangerous crosses into the box.

But it did not all go Sorrento’s way – ECU nearly caused Daryl Platten to score an own goal from a header and Curtis Aspden fumbled an optimistic lob from Danny Dixon, narrowly preventing the ball from rolling over the line.

Things looked up for ECU after half-time when captain James Morgan received a second yellow card after tackling Rodgers.

Against a 10-man Sorrento, ECU had more possession but struggled to knock the ball into the net.

They did not equalise until the 73rd minute when Tommy Amphlett crossed the ball into the box after a run down the wing and Harnwell’s attempted clearance went awry.

This reignited ECU’s spark, setting up a nail-biting final quarter of an hour.

Sorrento almost regained their lead three minutes later but were ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.

Defender Joe Smith twice cleared from the goal line after ECU keeper Banks was beaten but the visitors ended the game with two great chances.

Aspden’s save stopped Jon Stynes’ nifty lob and a minute later he parried Amphett’s shot, with the rebound attempt going high over the crossbar. 

Sorrento coach Jamie Harnwell lamented the missed opportunity to climb a position on the NPL WA table and said being disappointed was an understatement.

“Even with 10 men I thought we created some great chances but we should never have put ourselves in that situation,” he said.

“You can’t fault the effort or the way they played. There’s just outside factors that determined things today.”

Sorrento 1 (HARNWELL 42’)
ECU Joondalup SC 1 (OG 73’)
Saturday 28 June, 2014
Percy Doyle Reserve, Duncraig
Kick-off: 3.00pm
Referee: Tim Mihavc
Assistant referees: Brendan Skinner, Shane Skinner
Crowd: 300 (approx)

Sorrento: GK Curtis ASPDEN, 6. Daryl PLATTEN, 7. James MORGAN (c), 8. Brodie MARTIN, 9. Todd HARNWELL, 10. Jason MIRCO, (11. Scott BULLOCH 62’), 13. Steve McDONALD, 14. Chris REID, 17. Reece VITTIGLIA, 18. Sean CANHAM, (21. Mike McGINLEY 80’), 22. Ryan PEARSON.
Substitutes not used: RGK James MORGAN, 15. Razack GELOO, 26. Ben FAIRBAIRN.
Yellow Cards: James MORGAN 8’, 50’, Sean CANHAM 79’, Curtis ASPDEN 86’, Todd HARNWELL 87’,
Red Cards: James MORGAN 50’

ECU Joondalup: 1. (GK) Andy BANKS, 2. Ryan LOWRY, 3. Jon HIGGINS (c), 5. Carl RODGERS, 6. Jon STYNES, 7. Henry DURR, (14. Jake BENSON-COOPER 57’), 8. Joe SMITH, 10. Andy HIGGINS, 11. Danny DIXON, 13. Tommy AMPHLETT, 19. Stuart MONTGOMERY, (9. David Foster 62’)
Substitutes not used: 16. Ryan McDARBY 17. William BISSETT, 21. Jamie SERRA.
Yellow Cards: NIL
Red Cards: NIL