The PGFC Academy First Team’s bid for a Night Series Semi-Final place may have been ended by Friday’s 3-2 defeat to Floreat Athena, but there was much to like about the youngsters’ performance both on the night and throughout the pre-season tournament.
Requiring three points to make the last four, Glory found themselves 2-0 down inside the opening 25 minutes at Percy Doyle Reserve as Bayley Montgomery and Phil Arnold both found the net.
With Josh Anasamo and Judd MacDougall each hitting the woodwork towards the end of the first-half, however, the signs were clear that the contest was far from over and that feeling was reinforced three minutes after the restart when Danny Douglas halved the arrears with a long-range strike.
Two minutes later it was 2-2, Tyler Vecchio getting away down the right and delivering an inviting low cross which Jayden Gorman swept home.
The drama continued as Adam Sinagra then kept out a penalty from Floreat’s Jesse Fuller, but there was nothing the Glory ‘keeper could do to prevent Sean McManus from making it 3-2 20 minutes from time.
To their credit, what was a young Glory side comprising mainly Under-20 players, emptied the tank in the latter stages, but despite ending up with a 75% share of the possession, were just unable to breach the Floreat defence again.
Having gained invaluable senior experience throughout a highly-competitive Night Series campaign, the PGFC Academy First Team will open their NPL WA 2022 season on Saturday 19 March when Bayswater City will provide the opposition at Crazy Domains Stadium at Hartfield Park (kick-off at 6pm).
Match Details
Floreat Athena 3 (Montgomery 2′, Arnold 25′, McManus 68′) PGFC Academy First Team 2 (Douglas 48′, Gorman 50′)
Half-time: 2-0
Percy Doyle Reserve
Floreat Athena: 35.Jason SALDARIS, 4.Ethan MOMM, 6.Jesse FULLER, 8.Sean MCMANUS, 10.Nicholas AMBROGIO, 11.Dennis GALA, 15.Chris SALDARIS, 16.Bayley MONTGOMERY, 18.Phil ARNOLD, 20.Andrew PALMER, 22.Riley WOODCOCK
Substitutes: 4.Ben STEELE, 13.Jesse ROBERTS, 14.Ludo BOI, 19.Mohammed AL-ZAIDY, 21.Filip MINIC, 23.Gianluca ROCCO DE FELIPE
PGFC Academy First Team: 1.Adrian SINAGRA (GK), 4.Jacob MUIR, 5.Lucas COOK, 6.Chris DONNELL, 9.Joshua ANASMO, 13.Jayden GORMAN, 22.Andrew MARANTA, 24.Daniel WALSH, 26.Danny DOUGLAS, 31.Judd MACDOUGALL, 32.Tyler VECCHIO
Substitutes: 12.Keegan GRANT (GK), 10.Jayden LEADER, 15.Tiaga MATOBA, 19.Lebib LEBIB, 20.Matt GEORGE, 23.Aiki TSUKAMOTO, 25.Joe HOBSON
(picture courtesy of Tom McCarthy)
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