Report by Tommy Smith

A goal in each half proved enough to give Stirling Lions a 2-0 victory over Perth Glory and record their first win of the season.

Coming off the back of a hammering against ECU Joondalup last week, Glory boss Scott Miller must have been hoping for a positive response from his young guns, but instead their inability to take their chances was the difference between the two teams.

A sign of what was to come appeared within minutes of the kick-off as Glory striker Joe Knowles wasted a gilt-edged chance to put Perth 1-0 up, placing the ball wide from 10m.

Stirling, for their part, had the benefits of experience and a superior physical strength to the Glory’s rookies, and they were able to capitalise on several opposition mistakes to fashion chances of their own.

The breakthrough came midway through the first half when Stirling striker Daniel Micevski slotted the ball home neatly after finding space in the penalty area.

Despite their lack of possession, Stirling were deserving of their lead given the disciplined manner at which they set about their task of containing the Glory midfield, knowing they would be able to capitalise on further errors.

Both teams shuffled the pack in the second half, most notably Perth Glory who attempted to introduce some badly needed width into their midfield, bringing on Sambindi to replace Riley Woodcock on the left wing.

The changes did little to bridge the gap between the two teams as Glory, for all their possession and composure on the ball, were unable to take any chances that fell to them.

It was left to Stirling substitute Jack Salter, brought on late in the second half, to wrap up the victory with a clinical finish from 10 yards after yet another misplaced pass from the Glory midfield resulted in a swift counter-attacking move.

After the game, Perth Glory assistant coach Bobby Despotovski was critical of his side’s wasteful possession.

“We made a couple of silly mistakes, and they lost us the game, it was simple as that,” he said.

Stirling coach Gary Williams was full of praise for his team’s ability to cope with a confident Glory midfield.

“I thought we played very well,” he said.

“We knew they would keep possession very well and they caused us problems. We didn’t create a huge number of chances, but the ones we did we scored, and that made the difference today.”

Perth Glory 0
Stirling Lions 2 (Micevski 28’, Salter 85’)
Saturday March 22nd 2014
Intiga Stadium
Attendance – 350 approx

Perth Glory -  GK Fraser GREENWOOD, 2 Josh TUCKER, 3 Rocco PIZZATO, 4 Jack OLDHAM, 5 Scott ROBERTSON (15 Alex CASTIELLO 86’), 6 Blamo QUA QUA, 7 Riley WOODCOCK (18 Bor Bor SAMBINDI 55’), 8 Cameron EDWARDS (10 Lawrence SHURUMA 72’), 9 Joe KNOWLES, 11 Slob VULIN, 17 Harry O’BRIEN
Subs not used  - 20 Ryan BARKER, 16 Sean TROUP

Stirling Lions – GK Aleks VRTESKI, 2 Rikki SMITH, 3 Michael DE LIMA, 4 Ali GHOULAMI, 5 David FILLIPOU (13 Jack SALTER 69’), 6 Hayden DOYLE, 8 Andy BROWN (Miki VUJACIC 61’), 9 Daniel MICEVSKI, 10 Howard NEIGHBOUR, 11 Dennis GALAN, 12 Tim HILL
Subs not used – 14 Daniel DOLS, 15 Josh BOOYSEN, 24 Conor CAMPBELL