Report by Alasdair Beer

David Sesay had a hand in both goals as Inglewood United beat Stirling Lions 2-1 at Macedonia Park in their PS4 National Premier Leagues WA clash. 

The winger scored the game’s opening goal after a minute before providing the assist for Andrija Jukic’s decisive strike.

Inglewood coach Michael Garcia was pleased with Sesay’s return to form.

“Dave’s a quality player – he’s probably been a little below what he considers to be his best, so I’m glad for him that he got a chance to show his potential,” he said.

Sesay opened Inglewood’s account in the first minute of play, running onto a lofted diagonal ball before beating his man and firing a powerful strike past Stirling keeper Joel Driscoll.

The visitors nearly doubled their lead eight minutes later, when Tim Gould got a foot to Kenny Keogh’s shot, only to see the deflection flash just wide.

Teeboy Kamara created Stirling’s first major chance, when he broke down the left flank before squaring for Shane Malcolm, whose wild effort went well high.

Inglewood goalkeeper Aleks Vrteski spared embarrassment for Ryan Sardi in the 21^st minute, rushing out to take the ball off Malcom’s toes after he had dispossessed the Inglewood defender.

He then denied Kamara four minutes later as he kept out a stinging effort from Robert Petkov, before Jovo Pavlovic cleared the danger.

Jukic should have had Inglewood’s second on the half-hour mark, firing high over an open goal after Driscoll had saved David Micevski’s effort.

Vrteski tipped over a dipping Steve Purton shot from outside the area four minutes before half time, as both sides continued to mount dangerous attacks.

Inglewood doubled their tally eight minutes into the second half, as Sesay skillfully surged down the left wing before delivering a low cross for Jukic to put away from the middle of the penalty area.

However, Stirling had a response three minutes later, as Guam international Malcolm got a boot to Lawrence Shuruma’s header across goal and the ball hit Vrteski before trickling over the line.

The game continued to be an end-to-end affair as Sesay forced Driscoll into a diving save with a swerving shot from outside the box in the 70^th minute.

Centre-back Pavlovic then found himself in unfamiliar territory two minutes later, skipping past two Lions defenders before drawing a save from Driscoll when clean through.

Stirling nearly found an equaliser four minutes from time, as Kamara intercepted a Jason Colli back pass, only for Vrteski to again come to the rescue as he charged out and smother the forward’s shot.

With the win, Inglewood moved past Stirling to claim sixth position on the table and Garcia said he would play out the remaining matches with a view to 2016.

“The goal is to blood a few young players and look to next season at which players are doing the team thing for Inglewood, so next year we can hit the ground running,” he said

Stirling Lions 1 (Malcolm 58mins)
Inglewood United 2 (Sesay 2mins, Jukic 53)
Macedonia Park
Kick off: 3:00pm

Stirling Lions: GK Joel DRISCOLL, 3 Steve PURTON, 4 Billy QUINNCROFT (2 Michael PUGLIESE 75’), 6 Brodie MARTIN, 7 Milorad VUJACIC (C), 8 Tim HILL, 11 Shane MALCOLM, 15 Robert PETKOV (14 Lawrence SHURUMA 46’), 16 Alen PATAROV (10 Daniel MICEVSKI 36’), 17 Teeboy KAMARA, 18 Nathan BOWDEN-HASSE
Substitutes not used: 13 Boas MTWALE, 20 Lance ALAVAKIS
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil 

Inglewood United: GK Aleksandar VRTESKI, 2 Rikki SMITH, 7 Kenny KEOGH (9 Brian WOODALL 90+4’), 10 David MICEVSKI, 11 David SESAY, 12 Tim GOULD, 13 Jovo PAVLOVIC (C), 15 Paul ZIMARNO, 17 Ryan SARDI (14 Jarrod MCNALLY 82’), 18 Jason COLLI, 23 Andrija JUKIC (8 Scott WITSCHGE 63’)
Substitutes not used: 21 Abdul SESAY, 24 Jordan HOWELL
Yellow cards: Sesay 45mins, Gould 77mins
Red cards: Nil