All Flags State League Round Four

BALCATTA continued their flying start to the All Flags State League Premier Division with a 5-1 thrashing of Bayswater City, as round four of WA's top flight was completed over the weekend.

All match summaries courtesy of Football West.

Western Knights 2 (Branimir Mikulic 60’, Stuart Ferguson 62’)
Mandurah City 1 (Andy Brown 33’)
@ Nash Field

Mandurah's Andy Brown broke the deadlock at Nash Field against the run of play.

The City midfielder split the Knights right side and dribbled the ball past the approaching Siddall, who was left to watch the ball roll into an open net.

The Knights came out in the second half a goal down and forced to dig themselves out of a whole.

A build up of pressure eventually led to an equaliser in the 58th minute, when Branimir Mikulic controlled the ball in the box, turned and squeezed a shot under the outstretched Straker.

The home crowd was sent into raptures just two minutes later when Stuart Ferguson struck a towering header into the back of the net to complete an instant turn around and put the onus on Mandurah.

Unfortunately for the away side there was no stopping the rampant Western Knights, who should have scored a few more times before the end.

Inglewood United 3 (Brendan Craig 45+1’, Ryan Clarke 65’, Alex Stamatiadis 71’)
NTC 1 (Harry O’Brien 81’)
@ 6PR Stadium

Inglewood started the better in a first half with minimal goalmouth opportunities for both sides, with set pieces looking like their best outlet early on.

But in first half stoppage time Inglewood landed a real sucker punch when Craig's low free kick from the right found its way into the back of the net through a sea of bodies.

The goal lifted the home side and they started the second half looking more likely to score.

The second goal arrived on 65 minutes and it was Clarke who broke from midfield with a nicely timed run, before lifting the ball calmly over Doyle to make it 2-0.

And a third was scored just six minutes later as the NTC defence went completely missing.

Makeche was once again the tormentor down the right hand side and he beat his man before cutting it back to substitute Stamatiadis who made no mistake from 12 yards.

With four minutes to play, Kenny Lowe's charges managed to grab a well-earned consolation when another substitute, Harry O'Brien, received a lay off from Musa before rolling the ball under an on-rushing Taseski.

Floreat Athena 2 (Liam Boland 24’, Phil Arnold 90+3’)
Sorrento 2 (David Foster pen 14’, Brodie Martin 38’)
@ Litis Stadium

Sorrento started brightly and were given a golden opportunity to take the lead when referee Michael Tolmie awarded a penalty for obstruction.

David Foster stepped up to take the spot kick, sending goalkeeper Alex Dunn the wrong way as he coolly slotted the ball home.

Two minutes later Floreat scored an equaliser against the run of play. Young striker Liam Boland fired home from close range after Sorrento had failed to clear their lines.

Sorrento finally retook a deserved lead in the 38th minute through midfielder Brodie Martin, as he played Moran in down the left before continuing his run into the area and getting on the end of the striker's cutback to fire the ball past Dunn at the near post.

It looked as though Floreat had blown their last chance of drawing level when O'Connell headed wide from Kovacevic's 87th minute corner.

But with the seconds ticking away the home side threw everyone forward and were finally rewarded when Arnold poked the ball home to steal a dramatic draw.

ECU Joondalup 2 (Ian McMurray 60’, Ollie McGee 72’)
Cockburn City 1 (Michael Grigo 23’)
@ ECU Joondalup Campus

Ollie McGee bounced back from a heavy knock to head ECU Joondalup's winner in a come from behind 2-1 victory over Cockburn City at Edith Cowan University.

The central defender - who was forced to leave the pitch early on with blood streaming from a cut on his face - powerfully headed home a corner after 72 minutes to give ECU their first home victory of the season.

Michael Grigo had earlier put the visitors ahead midway through the first half, getting free in the box and heading John Devite's pinpoint cross past a helpless Andy Banks.

However Ian McMurray levelled on the hour, swivelling superbly to hook the ball into the bottom corner from close range; and there was nothing the Cockburn keeper could do after 72 minutes to keep out McGhee's bullet-like header from eight yards to make it 2-1.

Stirling Lions 2 (Jamie Watt 36’, 47’)
Armadale 1 (Parys Okai 45’)
@ Macedonia Park

Jamie Watt gave Stirling the lead in the 36^th minute when he slotted home confidently past Cyril Sharrock after the Armadale defence were caught out by a long ball from first-gamer Brent Griffiths.

But on the stroke of half time, a silly challenge by Griffiths, which earned him a yellow card, gave Armadale a free kick and a great chance to get back on level terms which they took in spectacular fashion as Parys Okai expertly fired the free kick into the top left hand corner.

Within the first five minutes of the second half there was more goalmouth action than the entire first half as Watt headed the Lions back in front following a cross from Anthony Skorich on 47 minutes.

Three minutes later he thought he had scored his hat-trick; Anthony Campbell completely miskicked when trying to clear the ball from the penalty area and the ball fell to Watt who tucked home his third goal but was flagged offside by the linesman.

But to the delight of the home fans referee Michael Nugus overturned the decision allowing the goal to stand but only momentarily as after long consultation with the linesman he eventually reversed it back to the original offside decision, angering many inside the stadium.

The remainder of the match was played at a higher intensity but even with space opening up, no one could alter the 2-1 score line.

Bayswater City 1 (Damian Catalano (pen) 19’)
Balcatta 5 (Steven Burton 15’, 34’, 80’, Mustafa Atak 46’, Daniel Micevski 90+3’)
@ Frank Drago Reserve

In front of a big crowd, former Ipswich Town and Doncaster Rovers striker Steven Burton began his football career in WA with a hat-trick, with Mustafa Atak and Daniel Micevski adding the others, as Michael Roki's side bounced back from last week's defeat to take over top spot form their hosts.

"I'm delighted with the win today. I think we ground them out, we were prepared to wear them down and it went that way,” Roki said.

“It's another small piece in the jigsaw. That's how we are approaching the season. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves. Both sides had chances but we took our chances today and I'm delighted to get back in the winner's circle."

"We took a bit of a risk playing Steven (Burton). He was an unknown to them and he has been training with us for a month, but we haven't seen him (in) match conditions (and) today he showed he's a quality player with a great hat trick."

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	For	Agst	GD	PTS
1	Balcatta SC	4	3	0	1	13	5	8	9
2	Western Knights	3	2	1	0	5	2	3	7
3	Bayswater City	4	2	1	1	6	6	0	7
4	ECU Joondalup	4	2	1	1	7	8	-1	7
5	Mandurah City	4	2	0	2	5	6	-1	6
6	Perth SC	3	1	1	1	5	4	1	4
7	Armadale SC	4	1	1	2	6	7	-1	4
8	Cockburn City	4	1	1	2	5	7	-2	4
9	Stirling Lions	4	1	1	2	6	9	-3	4
10	Inglewood United	2	1	0	1	3	2	1	3
11	Floreat Athena FC	4	0	2	2	5	8	-3	2
12	Sorrento FC	2	0	1	1	2	4	-2	1