The PGFC Academy First Team suffered just its second defeat of the NPL WA season on Saturday, going down 2-0 to new league leaders Sorrento FC in Busselton.
The youngsters had headed south as part of Football West’s hugely-popular annual Regional Festival of Football and there was a good turnout at Barnard Park to see the two in-form sides go head-to-head.
Those fans were treated to a lively contest which began with Glory’s Lucas Rossi racing onto a through-ball from Andrew Maranta and being denied the opening goal by a fine save by Patrick Hughes.
Ciaran Bramwell then fired wide from just outside the box as the youngsters continued their bright start, before Hughes was again called into action to keep out a close-range effort from Maranta.
Glory appeared to be on the brink of making the breakthrough at that stage and yet instead, the game was turned on its head as Sorrento scored twice in the space of three minutes.
Dean Cummings grabbed the first, stabbing home Chris Jackson’s cross in the 35th minute and 1-0 almost immediately became 2-0 as Jackson added a goal to his assist with a first-time finish.
Bramwell went closest to hauling Glory back into the game with a low shot which flashed wide, but chances were at a premium in the second half and ultimately the Gulls were able to hang on to claim all three points.
In other Academy news, the Under-20s saw their game postponed, but the Under-18s maintained their unbeaten record this term with a 4-1 victory on Sunday morning.
All three teams will be in action again on Saturday (21 May) against Perth RedStar FC at RedStar Arena A (ECU Joondalup), with the Under-18s getting things underway at 11am, followed by the Under-20s at 1pm and the First Team at 3pm.
Match Details
Sorrento FC 2 (Cummings, Jackson) PGFC Academy First Team 0
Half-time: 2-0
Barnard Park, Busselton
Referee: Shane Skinner
Sorrento FC: 61.Patrick HUGHES (GK), 2.Byungatae AHN, 5.Mark BARNETT (C) (11.Tim HILL 46′), 7.Alex MORGAN, 9.Chris JACKSON, 10.Ollie ANNIS, 14.Joe TWEATS, 16.Ryan MCLAUGHLIN, 17.Dean CUMMINGS, 18.Jordan BROWN (19.Jaxon TEMATA 83′), 21.Gustavo GIRON MARALUNDA (8.Scott WITSCHGE 75′)
Substitutes not used: 3.Stpehen PURTON, 4.Shanu KILKELLY, 60.Joel DRISCOLL
Yellow Cards: Annis, McLaughlin
Red Cards: None
PGFC Academy First Team: 16.Keegan GRANT (GK), 3.Daniel WALSH, 4.Jacob YOUNG, 5.Judd MACDOUGALL, 6.Danny DOUGLAS (14.Jayden LEADER 57′), 7.Matt GEORGE (17.Christian BELLADONNA 69′), 9.Ciaran BRAMWELL (C), 10.Andrew MARANTA, 11.Lucas ROSSI (18.Joe HOBSON 69′), 12.Will FORMSTON (2.Taiga MATOBA 86′), 20.Lucas COOK
Substitutes not used: 1.Adrian SINAGRA (GK), 13.Shade STEWART, 15.Aiki TSUKAMOTO
Yellow Cards: Young, Leader, Hobson
Red Cards: None
#OneGlory
