Free-falling Force go down again

The Bunbury Forum Force suffered their third consecutive State Premier League defeat with a 2-1 loss to Floreat Athena at Payne Park on Saturday.

It has been a tough month for the Force, whose last point came against Western Knights back in round six.

Alan Armstrong’s men have now dropped to 10th spot on the table, just one point ahead of bottom side ECU Joondalup.

Aside from 10-minute periods at the start and end of the match, Bunbury looked far from threatening against a dominant Athena.

Ghanaian Bright Ababio scored Bunbury’s only goal of the match in the ninth minute, blasting one past Floreat keeper Brad Eiffe after a curling free-kick from new signing David Winskill.

Win skill had little impact in his first outing for the Force and struggled to keep up with Floreat’s midfield before being substituted late in the match.

Following Ababio’s early goal it was Floreat’s turn to attack, with lightning fast midfielder Ludo Boi and bustling striker Liam Boland causing plenty of problems.

It looked only amatter of time before the visitors would equalise, and it was a left-foot strike from Boi that broke through Bunbury’s defence late in the first half.

The half-time whistle could not come soon enough for Bunbury who, without the heroics of gloveman Ryan Montgomery, would have been at least a goal down at the break.

Floreat continued to attack relentlessly in the second half, and created plenty of shots at goal.

It took until the 73rd minute for Athena to take the lead after second-half substitute Mickey Roberts was fouled in the box.

The experienced Mark Pritchard converted the penalty, sending Montgomery the wrong direction.

Ababio came close to an instant reply, with his powerful strike going within centimetres of the right post.

Bunbury had its moments in the latter stages of the match but Floreat held on to take the three points.