Report by Blayne Treadgold

Stirling Lions boosted their hopes of playing NPL football in 2019 with a 5-0 thumping of Joondalup United at Macedonia Park on Saturday afternoon.

A Jamie Docherty opener, plus braces for Steve Sokol and Alex Tanevski, meant Keegan Ashley’s side will head into the final two matches of the season against fellow strugglers Balcatta and Forrestfield confident of avoiding relegation.

“I thought we dominated and controlled the game, it was great to score plenty of goals,” Ashley said.

“Everyone worked hard today, we put in a good shift as a unit.

“We’ve got some very important matches to come, so it was great to get the win."

Docherty got the Lions off to a quick start when he finished off his solo run on nine minutes with a shot past Joondalup keeper James Bosdet.

United’s Jamie Gibson had a chance to restore parity just minutes later after he got on the end of Matthew Cherrie’s ball only to skew his shot into the sky.

Stirling veteran David Micevski stayed busy in the early stages and went close to doubling the lead only to be thwarted by Bosdet, who sent his effort behind for a corner.

Steve Sokol then got his first of the afternoon to give Stirling a two-goal buffer before half-time after he collected a delightful through ball before drilling home.

Stirling began piling on the pressure in the second half. Tanevski missed a golden chance when he attempted to lob the Bosdet, while Sokol netted only to be flagged offside.

Tanevski’s efforts paid off in the 58th minute when he stepped inside his defender to find a gap at the near post to make it 3-0.

Tanevski doubled his tally late in the match when he went one on one with Bosdet. The gloveman produced a brilliant point-blank save only to have the ball spill in the path of Tanevski who took his chance at the second attempt.

Stirling completed the rout minutes before full-time when Tanevski turned provider to set up Sokol for his second.

In a bizarre turn of events an altercation ensued on 90 minutes, resulting in a straight red card shown to Joondalup’s Jamie Gibson and a second yellow to Rudy Proctor, adding to the woes of an already depleted United squad.

A frustrated Nick Jennings was disappointed with his side's performance and lack of control.

“We showed a real lack of discipline, we lost our structure and our game plan,” Jennings said.

“I thought we had the best couple of chances of the first half, but we also gifted two goals, Second half the players seem to ignore instructions ... I’m disgusted with the second half performance.

“I want the players to go out and show a bit of pride, a bit of passion and show that they are good footballers.”

Stirling Lions 5 (Docherty 9min, Sokol 39, 86, Tanevski 58, 82)
Joondalup 0
Saturday, Aug 21
Macedonia Park
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Joshua Nixon    
Assistant referees: Simon Hicks, Jamie West

Stirling Lions: (GK) 1 Lewis ITALIANO, 2. Nathan DE ABREU, 4. Alex SULESKI, 5. David MOLINARI,
6. Dhors CHOUL, 7. Connor SWILION (12. Abu DELLIH 80), 8. Dean CUMMINGS, 9. Zane CASELLA,
10. David MICEVSKI (3. Nicholas ASHLEY 60) 11. Jamie DOCHERTY (17. Alex TANEVSKI 26)
14. Steve SOKOL
Substitutes not used: (RGK) 20. Damien DAMSONOSKI, 15. Joey PERKINS
Yellow cards: 5. David MOLINARI
Red cards: Nil

Joondalup United: (GK) 1 James BOSDET, 2 .Johnny CHALMERS, 4. Danny O’SHEA, 6. Sam WYNNE,
10. Elliot TATTERSALL (8. Rudy PROCTOR 77) 11 Anthony TAYLOR (c) (20. Matthew GROSTATE 68)
12. William KESSEL,14. Liam MOONEY, 17. Matthew CHERRIE (3. James SPURRY 57) 19. Adam BUCKLEY,
22. Jamie GIBSON
Substitutes not used: 23. Jonny HILL
Yellow cards: 2. Johnny CHALMERS, 19. Adam BUCKLEY, 8. Rudy PROCTOR
Red cards: 22. Jamie GIBSON, 8. Rudy PROCTOR