Perth scrape draw at Sorrento
Photo: Football West News
Report by Aisling Lawless
Substitute Andreas Theodosiades struck in the 90th minute as Perth came from behind twice to rescue a 2-2 draw with Sorrento at Percy Doyle Reserve.
Todd Harnwell and Jack Salter scored for the Gulls, while Ashley Rosindale got one back for Perth in an entertaining first half.
But just two minutes after his introduction, Theodosiades netted the winner as both sides missed an opportunity to narrow the gap on leaders Bayswater.
Sorrento coach Jamie Harnwell said his team has set a high standard in the last couple of weeks and they met it again.
"Unfortunately it feels like a loss for us today as we deserved to win, but we put a pretty big scare into Perth’s camp,” he said.
"We got written off a little bit at the start of the season which makes me chuckle, so we are starting to prove a few people wrong.”
A strong start from Sorrento saw Jason Mirco denied twice by keeper Alex Dunn in the eighth minute.
Todd Harnwell gave the Gulls the lead in the 14th minute, when he latched onto Niccolo Sabatini's shot across goal to tap past Dunn.
But Perth responded seven minutes later when Ashley Rosindale cut into the box and knocked the ball high into the net.
Both sides played fluidly in midfield, but it was Salter who put Sorrento ahead again after finding space in the box in the 43rd minute.
An equally fiery second half saw Sorrento maintain control of the match, but chances were limited for both sides until the final ten minutes.
Steven McDonald met Sabatini's corner on 87 minutes, but his header sailed narrowly past the left post.
Then three minutes later Theodosiades intercepted the ball deep in Sorrento’s defence and had plenty of time to fire into the bottom left corner.
Perth SC coach Taki Nicolaidis was relieved with the draw, but said Sorrento were the better team on the day.
“I don’t know if it was our lack of concentration, or the hunger, but I thought that they just wanted it more than we did,” he said.
“They worked harder, they closed down harder, they were more purposeful when they had the ball.
“If we are going to be in the mix at the end of the season, you’ve got to play better than that.”
Sorrento 2 (Harnwell 14min, Salter 43)
Perth 2 (Rosindale 23, Theodosiades 90)
Saturday 9 May 2015
Percy Doyle Reserve
Local kick-off: 3:00pm
Sorrento: 1. James MORGAN, 5. Adam LUCA, 8. Ryan PEARSON, 9. Todd HARNWELL, 10. Jason MIRCO (20. Brad McDONALD 66min), 11. Thomas BOSS, 12. Jack EADES, 13. Steve McDONALD (c), 16. Niccolo SABATINI, 19. Jack SALTER (18. Sean CANHAM 81), 22. Lewis HALL (4. Shaun KILLKELLY 73).
Substitutes not used: 21. Jordan DODD, 61. Jordan BLANK.
Yellow Cards: Eades 15min, Harnwell 80, Killkelly 90.
Red Cards: Nil
Perth SC: GK Alex DUNN, 2 Joshua WILKINS, 3 David CYRUS, 5. Dean EVANS, 6 (C) Clark KELTIE, 7 Carlo COELHO (9. Harley ORR 61), 8 Aden Da LUZ (19 Andreas THEODOSIADES 88), 10 Ashley ROSINDALE, 12 Marco SANTALUCIA (18 Josh PEREIRA 76), 13 Rocco PIZZATA, 14 Mark PRITCHARD.
Substitutes not used: 21. Matt MILENKOVIC, 23 Francis SOALE (RGK)
Yellow Cards: Santalucia 35min, Keltie 76.
Red Cards: Nil
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