Report by Josh Chiat

A week after blowing a two-goal lead to lose their opening PS4 NPLWA match of the 2015 season, Stirling Lions showed plenty of resilience to beat Sorrento 3-1 at Percy Doyle Reserve.

At 3-1 up with 80 minutes on the clock the Lions went down to 10 men following Brodie Martin's dismissal.

There was a feeling of deja vu for coach Rob Milevski, who saw his team capitulate 3-2 against Balcatta last week after having Lawrence Shuruma sent off at the same point in the game.

This weekend, however, they showed grit and a measure of good fortune to hold on with Milevski pleased to be victorious.

“(We were) definitely worried because we were in that same position last week,” Milevski said.
“Obviously it was a discipline issue and probably a bit of mental toughness... (but) I thought the boys stuck well to the task today and defended well in the dying minutes.”

Sorrento started the stronger of the two teams with Jason Mirco curling a shot onto the cross-bar after three minutes. As the half wore on Sorrento's passing became sloppy, and a loose ball deep in midfield led to the opening goal for Stirling's Daniel Micevski.

There were 24 minutes on the clock when he cut in from the left to send a right-foot strike into the top corner of the net.

The second goal came soon after when a long diagonal pass from Lions' left-back Steve Purton found Teeboy Kamara in space on the right. He cut it back for Martin to curl the ball over Morgan into the top left-hand corner.

Playing high and wide, Kamara and Micevski were dangerous all game. They combined in the first minute of the second half when Micevski found his teammate with a low ball from the left, Kamara finishing from point-blank range.

After Sorrento's Jason Mirco provided a life-line in the form of a 51st minute free kick goal, fumbled into the net by Stirling keeper Connor Campbell, Sorrento twice hit the cross-bar and had another effort cleared off the line.

Sorrento coach Jamie Harnwell felt the 3-1 loss was unrepresentative of the game.

“I don't know how we lost that,” he said. “I think they had four shots on goal all game (and) scored three of them.

“We hit the post four times had one on ones and not taken our chances, so (it's) disappointing from that point of view,”

The Sorrento coach, however, enjoyed aspects of his team's performance and will look to put the positives into practice when they host strong Sunday Premier League side North Perth United on Monday in the Westfield FFA Cup.

“We'll try play the same, we'll get on top, and try (to) keep possession of the ball and create chances,” he said. “But we can't give away silly goals... you can't keep chasing games like that.”

Sorrento 1 (Mirco 51 Mins)
Stirling Lions 3 (Micevski 24 Mins, Martin 32, Kamara 46)
Saturday, April 4
Venue: Percy Doyle Reserve, Duncraig
Referee: Michal Jasinski

Sorrento: GK James MORGAN, 10 Jason MIRCO, 2 Danny CAIN, 4 Shaun KILKELLY (Adam LUCA 82), 9 Todd HARNWELL, 11 Thomas BOSS, 12 Jack EADES, 16 Niccolo SABATINI, 19 Jack SALTER, 20 Brad McDONALD (22 Lewis HALL 77), 21 Jordan DODD (18 Sean CANHAM 61)
Subs not used: RGK Jordan BLANK, 15 Razack Geloo.
Yellow Cards: Kilkelly 55, Luca 86.

Stirling Lions: GK Connor CAMPBELL, 3 Steve PURTON 6 Brodie MARTIN, 5 Viktor ATANASOVSKI, 7 Milorad VUJACIC (C), 8 Tim HILL, 15 Robert PETKOV (19 Vladimir NAUMOVSKI 90), 10 Daniel MICEVSKI, 17 Brian WOODALL (2 Boas MTWALE 72) 9 Teeboy KAMARA (14 Loic ANGA 81), 18 Nathan BOWDEN-HASSE
Subs not used: RGK Lance ALAVAKIS, 4 Boas MTWALE, 12 Robert MARIANO
Yellow Cards: Martin 33, Atanasovski 45, Vujacic 65, Petkov 69, Anga 90+3, Bowden-Hasse 90+4.
Red Cards: Martin 81 (second yellow).