The PGFC Academy First Team went down to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Bayswater City in Friday’s Football West NPL Night Series clash at Frank Drago Reserve.
It was a positive start for the youngsters, who claimed an early lead via former City striker Luke Salmon, but Football West Gold Medal-winner Daryl Nicol duly restored parity with his first goal for the hosts.
City then hit the front in first-half stoppage-time through Paul Lloyd, before Gomo Dukuly’s penalty drew Glory level.
From there, however, Bayswater took control, with Glory’s Nick Walsh unfortunately scoring an own-goal to give them the lead and striker Gordon Smith adding the fourth.
The result means that Glory have now won one and lost one of their opening two Night Series games and Head Coach Richard Garcia drew plenty of encouragement from his charges’ display against one of the NPL’s most powerful teams.
“It was another decent performance from our young side and we controlled the game for long periods against a very strong Bayswater side,” he said.
“We made a good start and took the lead, but lack of concentration led us to concede only three minutes later and then again just before half time.
“But the guys kept playing in the same positive way and hit back early in the second half, only to go behind again from another set-piece.
“They [Bayswater] sat deep to protect their lead and we pushed for the equaliser and got caught out with a bit of inexperience for their last goal.
“We take a lot of positives from the game, and will look to improve on that good performance with hopefully a good result against Floreat Athena.”
Fresh off a big win against Armadale last week, Glory opened the game well and were ahead on eight minutes. A pass over the top sent Salmon in on goal and he dinked the ball over the onrushing Devon Spence to give them the lead.
But the home side were level three minutes later when a free-kick sent Smith clear and he squared the ball to Nicol who finished well into the bottom corner of the net.
Then, in the third minute of stoppage-time, a long throw from Adam Tong was missed by everyone and Lloyd ghosted in at the back post to score.
It was a perfect start to the second half for Garcia’s side as they levelled things up just two minutes in.
Dukuly was brought down by Tong in the penalty area, referee Michal Jasinski pointed the spot and the striker picked himself up to score from the spot.
But on the hour Bayswater restored their lead as Nicol’s corner was headed into his own goal by the unfortunate Nick Walsh.
As Glory pushed hard for the equaliser, they were caught on the break in the final minute when Smith was sent clear one-on-one with Nic Speca and he finished clinically to seal the win.
Despite the loss, striker Salmon echoed the comments of his coach in terms of the positives to be drawn from the game.
“It was a good game,” he said. “I felt like we played very well against a strong Bayswater side.
“We’re all disappointed about the result, but we played well for long periods and will build and focus on the mistakes, work on them and come back stronger next week against Floreat Athena.”
#OneGlory
Picture courtesy of Neil Devey
