Mandurah City beat Western Knights 3-0 on Saturday.
Camera IconMandurah City beat Western Knights 3-0 on Saturday. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Mandurah City bounces back; beats Knights 3-0

Declan ByrneMandurah Coastal Times

Goals from Fernandez, Jordan Rhodes and Craig Tone helped the defending champions to the win as they enjoy top spot on the ladder after 13 rounds of the season.

Things started brightly for City as they took the lead on 10 minutes from a Jeff Bright set piece.

He picked out Ollie McGhee, who found Fernandez, who drove the ball into the bottom corner from close range.

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With the lead at 1-0, Rhodes had a shot from distance well tipped over by the Knights goalkeeper, but Mandurah didn’t have to wait long for its second.

Following sustained pressure, a rebound fell kindly for Rhodes, who showed great composure to volley home and send his side two goals to the good.

Mandurah began the second half controlling the game and piling pressure onto the Knights.

The lead was soon a comfortable three-goal cushion after Matthew Stares made a surging run before selflessly playing the ball to Tone, who guided the ball into the back of the net to round out the match.

The 3-0 results keeps Mandurah two points clear of a chasing Joondalup side who overcame fellow challengers Forrestfield 2-1 on Saturday.

Head coach Doug Hesketh said he was delighted with the players’ application after last week’s loss to UWA-Nedlands.

“This is a very tough league, teams continually lift when they play us and we know we need the same attitude and commitment displayed on Saturday every week,” he said.

In other results, the Reserves triumphed 2-1 while the U18s were held to a 2-2 draw.