Report by Samuel Hays

Photo by Fotoenzo

Stirling Lions coach Keegan Ashley hailed his side’s tenacity after they came through a “dogfight” to beat Subiaco 1-0 on Saturday.

Stirling captain Dean Cummings scored the only goal at Rosalie Park in a game which saw chances for both sides throughout.

“I’m very happy with the win. We fought it out extremely hard and it was a great result,” Ashley said.

“It was a bit of a dogfight, so you’ve got to be up for that fight and we were.”

Subiaco coach Ian McMurray felt his side did not do enough to secure the points.

“I’m disappointed. We had a good win last week against Sorrento but we came today and just didn’t turn up,” McMurray said.

“In the first half we were second to everything, though it got a little bit better in the second half when we had about four or five good headers on goal but didn’t hit the target. There was a bit more urgency about us, which we needed, and we put them under a lot of pressure and changed the game style which caused them problems, but we just didn’t take our chances.”

The game started with a flurry and it was Subiaco who had the early openings but they had no one to put them away.

And as is so often the case, they were made to rue their profligacy when Cummings opened the scoring for Stirling on 27 minutes as he rose highest to head the ball into the net.

Four minutes later Cummings went close to adding a second but his deflected free-kick was headed off the line.

Subiaco then went down the other end and Alex Castiello had a powerful header deflected onto the crossbar as a result of some last-ditch defending.

Just before half-time Stirling had a chance to make it 2-0 when Alex Tanevski was in on goal but his shot was tipped over the bar by Subiaco keeper Ryan Montgomery.

Stirling keeper Pasquale Gioffre was then required to make a terrific double save as he parried away the first attempt and was forced to prevent Manas Abendelwa from finishing the follow-up.

Stirling struggled to keep possession and Subiaco were unable to finish their chances in a second half where both teams would have liked to have done better.

The win makes it two in a row for Stirling, who now turn their attention to Perth Glory, while Subiaco will look to get back to winning ways when they face Armadale.