Report by Peter Simcox

Photo by Peter Simcox

Cockburn City's NPL WA title hopes suffered a blow on Saturday as ECU Joondalup got back to winning ways with a 4-2 win at Dalmatinac Park on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The visitors had lost their last three games in league and cup, but skipper Daryl Nicol was the hero in this one as he bagged his third hat-trick in the NPL this season to move to 13 goals for the season.

Steven McGarry put ECU 3-0 ahead early in the second half, but Cockburn hit back through Ryan Pratt and a Daniel Robinson penalty making it game on before Nicol had the final say.  

ECU assistant coach McGarry said it was a good performance from the side. “We’ve been pretty disappointing in the last three games and we’ve set the bar high this year,” he said.

“But we came in with a plan today and I thought we exploited the space behind them, we defended well and were patient, and when the chances came we took them.”

Nicol said it was good to get back to winning ways. “It’s great to be back in the winner's circle, three defeats in a row is never nice so we needed a win to get back on track and we did,” he said.

“We let them back in the game and they got their tails up and at 3-2 it was a nervy, but we went back up the pitch and added a fourth, which was a real boost and it settled us down and we were able to see the game out rather comfortably.”

Cockburn went into the game without skipper Euen Grant, Anthony Skorich and Ruben Tristao, while ECU lost Gordon Smith, Josh Whitmore and Declan Hughes, who has headed to the UK for trials.

The visitors dominated early and Nicol’s header was superbly saved by Luke Radonich, before Andy Higgins’ inswinging corner was cleared off the line by a combination of Radonich and Jesse Lazzaro.   

ECU defender Kieron Stallard almost came back to haunt his former club on the quarter-hour after Cockburn failed to deal with a Higgins free-kick, but the defender's shot flashed inches wide.  

But the visitors’ dominance was rewarded with the lead on 35 minutes. Cian Hirrell raced down the right and his low cross was missed by everyone, allowing the unmarked Nicol to tap home into an empty net.

It looked like Cockburn had weathered the storm before half-time but two minutes into stoppage time ECU doubled their advantage.

Great work in the middle of the park by Lukas De Lima ended with a through ball into the path of Nicol, who held off Daniel Santich and finished clinically past Radonich.   

It was 3-0 six minutes into the second half. McGarry won possession on the right and cut inside his marker and fired low across Radonich and it went in via the far post.

That goal seemed to wake Cockburn up and Luccas Mello’s cross was superbly cleared by Shane Cassidy, with Robinson ready pounce.

But from the resulting corner they reduced the margin. ECU failed to deal with the ball into the box and Pratt fired home from six yards.

Cockburn were back in the game, with skipper Cameron Edwards leading the comeback and on 65 minutes they won a penalty.

O’Brien was sent clear but he was brought down in the box by Stallard and referee David Bruce pointed straight to the spot. Robinson stepped up and converted the penalty, despite Johnny Perkins getting a hand to it.

But all their hard work to get back into the game was undone 60 seconds later when ECU added a fourth.

Great work on the right by second-half substitute Tommy Amphlett saw him drift past his marker and his cross picked out Nicol at the back post to complete his hat-trick.

Both sides had good chances late on. Radonich had to be alert late, tipping over Brad McDonald’s long-range effort, before Perkins stood tall to deny Adam Anfuso.

Cockburn City 2 (Pratt 55min, Robinson 64 pen)
ECU Joondalup 4 (Nicol 35, 45+2, 65, McGarry 51) 
Dalmatinac Park
Saturday, June 16
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: David Bruce
Assistant referees: Stuart Muldoon, Jatin Lodhia

Cockburn City: GK Luke RADONICH, 7 Luccas MELLO, 8 Cameron EDWARDS, 9 Julian TELES, 10 David ARAYA (21 Samuel GARCES 69), 11 Harry O’BRIEN, 12 Ryan PRATT, 13 Blake ADAMS (20 Harry COLLINS 75), 15 Daniel SANTICH, 16 Daniel ROBINSON, 17 Jesse LAZZARO (18 Adam ANFUSO 65) 
Substitutes not used: RGK Ryan BARKER
Yellow cards: Radonich 29, Santich 57, Pratt 78, Robinson 86
Red cards: Nil

ECU Joondalup: GK Johnny PERKINS, 2 Cian HIRRELL, 3 Ross MILLARD, 4 Steven MCGARRY, 5 Shane CASSIDY, 6 Kieron STALLARD, 7 Cameron MURRAY, 8 Lukas DE LIMA (13 Tommy AMPHLETT 58’), 9 Daryl NICOL, 10 Brad MCDONALD, 11 Andy HIGGINS
Substitutes not used: RGK Jack NUNN, 12 Ryan MCDARBY, 15 Adam TONG, 16 Sam POLLARD
Yellow cards: Millard 29, Stallard 62
Red cards: Nil