Report by Matthew Corvi

Stirling Lions claimed three valuable points against Perth Glory with a 2-0 win in their PS4 NPLWA clash at Macedonia Park.

A red card to Glory defender Hayden Stevens was the turning point in the game, as the home side wrestled control and scored twice.

Stirling Lions coach Rob Milevski was pleased with the result, which moves the club away from the relegation battle.

“I’m happy with the performance, we kept our discipline and shape for the whole 90 minutes,” he said.

“We knew they would move the ball well, so we setup in a counter attacking style and it paid off for us.”

Despite a dominant start from Glory, they were reduced to 10 men when Stevens was shown a red card for pulling back the attacking player in a one-on-one situation.

The referee had no chance but to award a penalty, but Nicholas Feely got down low to save Milorad Vujacic’s penalty and keep the game goalless.

Glory nearly held out until half-time but they conceded two minutes into additional time when Daniel Micevski found space on the edge of the area and made no mistake.

The second half continued the same way as the first half ended as the visitors tried to hold firm despite being a man down.

Glory then went down to nine men with 15 minutes remaining as Ashwin Jayakamar came off injured and with no remaining substitutions Stirling took full advantage.

Neat play out wide resulted in Jason Rubidge receiving the ball in the area and scored to seal the win for Stirling.

Perth Glory coach John Gibson was disappointed with the way the game panned out for his young side.

“I think we dominated play for majority of the game, but we need to be more ruthless,” he said.

“We gave away two of the weirdest goals you’ll see this season, so we shot ourselves in the foot.”

Stirling Lions 2 (Micevski 45+min, Rubidge 77)
Perth Glory 0
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Macedonia Park
Kick off: 3pm
Referee: Matthew Southern
Assistant Referees: Daniel Cole, Mitchell Barrington

Perth Glory: 1. Nicholas FEELY (GK), 2. Luca BODNAR, 3. Hayden STEVENS, 4. Cameron MURRAY, 5. Walter SCOTT, 6. Jack LEECH (15. Ashwin JAYAKUMAR 46), 7. Bayley BROWN-MONTGOMERY (13. Gomo DUKULY 67), 8. Callum TIMMINS, 9. Joseph KNOWLES (12. Michael McDOUGALL 63), 10. Daniel STYNES (C), 11. Yacoub MUSTAFA
Substitutes not used: 20. Kyle McDONALD (RGK),14. Michael DOMFEH
Yellow Cards: Timmins 56
Red Cards: Stevens 42

Stirling Lions: 1. John PERKINS (GK) (20. Lance ALAVAKIS 84 (RGK)), 2. Michael PUGLIESE, 5. Nicholas ASHLEY, 7. Milorad VUJACIC (C)(6. Robbie MCNEILL 84), 8. Alex SULESKI, 9. Alex TANEVSKI, 10. Daniel MICEVSKI, 15. Shane CASSIDY,17. Darren O’RIORDAN, 18. Moses KALAU (12. Jason RUBIDGE 62),19. Cameron TEECE
Substitutes not used: 13. Adam FALCONE,16. Mathaing MATHIANG
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil