Wanneroo City 0 Vs. 1 Cockburn City

Cockburn City moved to outright second after edging past Wanneroo City 1-0 in a scrappy encounter at Kingsway Sporting Complex. Both teams had lengthy absentee lists with Cockburn missing Michael Mirco, Johnny Mirco, Jason Dos Santos, Dean Wallace, Anthony Pereira and Peter Kuzet. Teenage goalkeeper Lee Mackie made his senior State League debut for a home side without Rowdy Yates, Craig Bowman, Aaron Olow, Jack Watts and Ahmed Hafez. Cockburn made a positive start with Giovanni De Bartolo and Josh Kamasz lively in the final third, however, genuine chances were scarce thanks to a resilient defence marshalled by Peter Vukmirovic and teenager Chris Pugh. The visitors' persistence was rewarded in the 28th minute when Paul Natale slipped the ball down the left to Aaron Dos Santos who cut inside two opponents and hit a speculative shot from 20-metres which incredibly snuck inside the far post. To their credit Wanneroo's youngsters remained focused and set about taking the game up to their more fancied opponent. With a little more luck the home team could have gone into the break on level terms as attempts on goal from Ben Yates and Craig Cheeseman going close. Wanneroo stepped up a gear for the second half with Yates, Cheesman and Vukmirovic leading the search for an equaliser. Cheesman crashed the ball into the crossbar, while a goal line clearance prevented Carl Harrison from bringing the teams level. Wanneroo continued to press with Cheesman again going close but no matter what they tried there was just no way for the home team. For their part Cockburn were limited to only scattered counterattacks, none of which really tested Mackie or his defence. The sound of the final whistle was a welcome relief for Cockburn on a day when Wanneroo deserved at least a share of the spoils.