Report by Aidan Shaw

Joondalup United and Stirling Lions each took a point and a clean sheet from a tightly contested 0-0 draw at Percy Doyle Reserve on Saturday.

The physical nature of the contest was reflected in ten yellow cards, five per team, with five of those ten cards issued in a heated seven-minute period late in the first half.

Joondalup coach Nick Jennings felt his side deserved to take more from their performance.

“To be perfectly honest, I thought we were the better team and we were unlucky not to take all three points,” he said.

The clean sheet sees Joondalup return to the form they showed earlier in the season, when they were unbeaten in their first six matches.

“We’ve been disappointing the last two weeks and we’ve been missing a number of players,” Jennings said.

“We got two or three of those players back today, and we were more like our normal selves; very competitive, and decent going forward.”

Stirling had the better of possession in the early stages and could have opened their account in the ninth minute, when Alex Tanevski fired his shot straight at James Bosdet.

Moments later at the other end, Richard Howles went one on one with John Perkins but fired straight into the legs of the visiting custodian.

Tempers began to flare around the half-hour mark, and a number of rash challenges saw five yellow cards issued in seven minutes.

Michael Pugliese rolled his ankle on the stroke of half time and had to be stretchered from the field.

The second half started much as the first finished, with both sides playing an attacking brand of football as frustration set in.

On the hour mark substitute Steve Sokol played a precision cross from the right to find Tanevski at the back post, but he was unable to direct the ball convincingly toward goal.

Mike Kenny fired a powerful volley through a crowded Stirling penalty area in the 71st minute, and was unlucky to see his shot take a deflection before going narrowly wide.

Joondalup were awarded a penalty with 15 minutes remaining, when Mathiang Mathiang brought down substitute Lee Jones.

Matthew Sparrow stood up to take it but Perkins came out on top, diving low to his right to make a crucial save.

Both sides had several more chances to grab all three points but were not clinical in front of goal.

Rob Milevski said his side worked hard despite being without the likes of last year’s McInerney Ford Gold Medal winner David Micevski.

“I felt the boys still worked hard, but in saying that, we probably let ourselves down in front of goal.”

Milevski spoke highly of goalkeeper John Perkins, who played a key role in earning his side a point.

“Johnny has been very good for us and he’s a good leader. He’s always going to be a vital player in our team.”

Stirling travel to Butlers Reserve on Monday to take on Amateur Night Series winners Wembley Downs in the FFA Cup, while Joondalup will host Kinglsey.

Joondalup United 0
Stirling Lions 0
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Percy Doyle Reserve
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Steven Gregory
Assistant Referees: Frank Laval, Andre Ferreira

Joondalup United: GK James BOSDET, 3. Rowdy YATES, 5. Joe STOCKER, 7. Matthew SPARROW, 8. Josh WHITMORE (c), 9. Richard HOWLES, 11. Josh BOOYSEN (19. Mike KENNY 58), 14. Jess COMPTON, 18. Anthony TAYLOR (24. Lee JONES 58), 23. Jay MARSDEN, 25. Greg PELLOW
Substitutes not used: 6. Guy MCDONALD, 17. Luke SERRA, 21. Jack NUNN
Yellow cards: Howles 36’, Sparrow 38’, Yates 41’, Taylor 43’, Bosdet 63’
Red cards: nil

Stirling Lions: GK John PERKINS, 2. Michael PUGLIESE (3. Alex SULESKI 45+1), 6. Dejan SPASESKI, 7. Milorad VUJACIC (c), 9. Alex TANEVSKI, 10. Daniel MICEVSKI, 12. Jason RUBIDGE (8. Steve SOKOL 46), 14. Lukas DE LIMA (19. Michael DE LIMA 73), 15. Shane CASSIDY, 16. Mathiang MATHIANG, 17. Darren ORIORDAN
Substitutes not used: 5. Graham DORAN, 20. Lance ALAVAKIS
Yellow cards: Pugliese 40’, Cassidy 72’, Perkins 75’, Sokol 79’, M De Lima 81’
Red cards: nil