Mandurah City defeated ECU Joondalup 4-0 in a spirited but one-sided premier league contest at ECU University Arena in Joondalup on Saturday.

Going into the middle-of-the-ladder clash, both teams were evenly matched with 20 points, 6 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses apiece. However, ECU was unable to capitalise on their home ground advantage.

Shane Crampton had Mandurah’s first shot after two minutes and despite being high and wide, it sent a clear message that Coach Stuart Currie’s men meant business.

Despite a cluster of ECU shots on goal Darren Broxton, Scott Bushby, Ian McMurray, Craig Simpson and Tommy Jones were all denied.

While ECU’s Tommy Amphlett worked to set up scoring chances, his team mates could not overcome their high-and-wide flurry of inaccuracy. They also had no answers for Mandurah’s height advantage in defense and the experience of Mandurah players such as Gary Collins and goal keeper Michael Green.

The first goal of the game was scored on 21 minutes after a scrappy passage of play, where Mandurah applied rapid-fire pressure to ECU goal keeper Karoma Bobson resulting in Christian Paschkewitz opening Mandurah’s account 1-0.

ECU seemed to be working overtime creating scoring opportunities for themselves as well as Mandurah. When ECU’s Anthony Jones gave away a free kick, Mandurah’s Jay Bonser stepped up, firing it into the wall, where the ball was picked out by Jeff Bright who found the corner of the net in the 43rd minute.

The score remained 2-0 at half-time, despite a concerted effort by Amphlett to score in the last minute of the half.

Coach Chris Nicholson’s half-time address saw ECU hit the ground with a renewed vigour with the ball going straight into ECU’s attacking half.

The dogged determination to score resulted in Bushby being yellow-carded in the 60th minutes for a dangerous kick. A number of players including Amphlett tried to control a waist-high ball by showing each other their studs but Bushby was the only one to be penalised for it.

While ECU debated the fairness of the call, Bonser fired off a shot from the halfway line only just missing the goal in the 60th minute.

On 64 minutes Shane Crampton also caught ECU napping when he found the back of the net giving Mandurah a 3-0 score.

ECU was lucky not to concede another goal in the 77th minute when goal keeper Bobson committed the junior league faux pas of catching the ball – while out of the penalty area.

The last minutes of the game saw both teams subbing players with Bright replaced by Gary Attrill in the 76th minute, Crampton replaced by Jake Loreto in the 84th, Jones replaced by Jared Bracewell in the 86th minute and Townsend replaced by Chris Currie in the 93rd, during injury time.

ECU dominated the ball and the scoring opportunities in the dying moments of the game. However, it was O’Callaghan who gave ECU the final insult with a goal in the 87th minute, giving the game a full-time score of 4-0.

A delighted Coach Currie gave Mandurah well deserved post-match praise.

“Joondalup is my old club and it’s always nice to put one over on your old club, but I thought we were very convincing today,” he said.

“The young lads we brought from Joondalup, Ryan McDarby and Phil O’Callaghan, were absolutely outstanding. For the young players to come and play against a lot of their mates, the way they’ve done, is first class.
“I’m delighted with the win. I thought it was a tremendous team effort and the boys played tremendously well. It is the best result this season.”

ECU Joondalup: K. Bobson, A. Jones, S. Bushby, C. Simpson, D. Broxton, G. Collins, C. Young, I. McMurray, T. Jones, T. Amphlett and J. Micro

Subs used: J. Bracewell, 86

Subs not used: C. McCrone (RGK), J. Walmsley, C. Coelho

Bookings: S. Bushby - yellow card, 60

Mandurah City: M. Green, J. Bright, R. McDarby, J. Bonser, S. Crampton, C. Paschkewtiz, P. O’Callaghan, R. Townsend, C. Wylie, G. Collins and J. Hesketh

Subs used: G. Attrill, 76, J. Loreto, 84, C. Currie, 93 (injury time on)

Subs not used: D. Ainslie (RGK), S. Dash

Referee: Paul Anderson