Sizzling Salmon saves the day for City

Luke Salmon’s last-minute free-kick earned Bayswater City a deserved point against 2019 champions Perth SC in the opening match of the rescheduled 2020 NPL WA.

Bayswater looked to have paid for a wasteful first half in which the inspired Ryan Montgomery and their own poor finishing allowed Perth to take the lead through Jayden Gorman.

After the break it was Perth who failed in front of goal and that cost the visitors. Bayswater striker Daryl Nicol was fouled on the edge of the area and Salmon took responsibility to curl a brilliant set-piece past the diving Montgomery.

While there would be no arguing that Bayswater were worth a draw, the goal was tough on the Azzurri keeper.

His best effort came 10 minutes before half-time when he saved low to deny Gordon Smith then recovered in time to keep out Nicol’s follow-up header.

Soon after he was forced into another smart stop, this time to thwart Ryan Pearson who had collected Nicol’s beautifully weighted return pass, before Salmon somehow fired the rebound over.

Perth, who had come closest when Bayswater defender Todd Howarth turned a Gorman free-kick on to his own post, then took the lead.

Bojan Radinovic played a simple ball down the right which Yagoub Mustafa latched on to. He left the Bayswater defence in his wake, before squaring for the incoming Gorman to tap home. It was Gorman’s second goal against Bayswater this year, having scored the winner when the sides met in the Night Series.

Perth were certainly improved in the second period and had opportunities to put the game to bed.

Michael Domfeh fired over under pressure following great work by Mustafa, Sasa Njegic’s free-kick produced a comfortable save from Devon Lindermann, who then brilliantly denied substitute Lee Morgan before Mustafa – in similar fashion to Salmon in the first half – blazed over an open goal.

That became an expensive miss when Nicol was upended in the 90th minute and Salmon planted the free-kick into the bottom corner, beyond Montgomery. And there was still time for Bayswater to have won it, but Nicol was unable to divert Jason Mirco’s pass over the line from a yard out.

Star player: Ryan Montgomery (Perth SC)

Bayswater City 1 (Luke Salmon 90)
Perth SC 1 (Jayden Gorman 42)