Report by Aidan Shaw

Photo courtesy Vince Caratozzolo

Stirling Lions and Inglewood United earned a point after a scoreless encounter in Round 17 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues WA at Macedonia Park on Saturday.

Both sides battled hard in tough conditions created by heavy downpours and pitch saturation.

Stirling’s Rob Milevski said a draw was a fair result given the circumstances.

“Obviously the weather made it very tough to play any sort of style of football,” he said. “In the second half it was tough even to just move the ball on the floor.”

“We were a little bit unlucky not to snatch it in the end but I think a draw was probably a fair result.”

Inglewood dominated the early stages and used strong tailwinds to their advantage, with Adam Tong firing a powerful long range effort in the 11th minute to force a great diving save from John Perkins.

The visiting attack was forced to reshuffle when Brian Woodall left the field in the 18th minute with a tweaked hamstring, replaced by utility-man Tim Robertson.

Kenny Keogh had a number of shots and headers on target but Perkins was in fine form to consistently deny him.

Stirling’s chances in the first half were limited with strong headwinds denying them the opportunity to play the long ball.

Robertson had several chances to put the visitors ahead early in the second half including a classy flick-on from an Ash Rosindale free kick on the hour mark.

In the 77th minute Stirling substitute Jamie Gibson produced a moment of brilliance and opportunism that very nearly gave his side the lead.

Gibson intercepted a defensive header from Josh Pereira, took the ball on his chest and fired a powerful volley that looped over Dunn and very narrowly over the crossbar.

In the final 10 minutes it was Stirling who began to look more confident as they pushed for the win.

Stirling nearly claimed the points in injury time when Kamara broke free on the right and drew Dunn out of his area.

Kamara squared it to David Micevski, who has found the net 15 times this year, but uncharacteristically he fired it just over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

Inglewood’s Taki Nicolaidis said he was proud of his side and spoke highly of opposing target-man Micevski, who played at Inglewood last season and finished as the club's top scorer.

“I won’t say we were the better team but I thought we had the better chances over the 90 minutes,” he said.

“David’s shot at the end; normally in those situations he’d bury that.”

The result sees Inglewood and Stirling maintain their positions on the league table at first and fourth respectively.

Stirling Lions 0
Inglewood United 0
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Macedonia Park
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Steven Gregory
Assistant referees: Matt Southern, Simon Hicks

Stirling Lions: GK John PERKINS, 3. Lukas DA LIMA (9. Jamie GIBSON 71), 4. Blamo QUA QUA, 5. Graham DORAN, 6. Brodie MARTIN (c), 7. Milorad VUJACIC, 8. David SESAY, 10. Daniel MICEVSKI, 11. David MICEVSKI, 16. Mathiang MATHIANG, 17. Teeboy KAMARA
Substitutes not used: RGK Connor CAMPBELL, 12. Benjamin CAMPBELL, 13. William KESSEL
Yellow cards: Kamara 34’, Vujacic 92’
Red cards: nil

Inglewood United: GK Alex DUNN, 4. Scott BLACKMORE, 5. Adam TONG, 6. Callum O’CONNELL, 7. Kenny KEOGH, 9. Brian WOODALL (17. Tim ROBERTSON 18), 10 Ash ROSINDALE (12. Scott WITSCHGE 82), 11. John MIGAS, 13. Josh PEREIRA, 14. Mark PRITCHARD (c) (8. Jason BARRERA 90), 18. Jason COLLI
Substitutes not used: RGK Scott WALLIS, 15. Matthew SPURLING
Yellow cards: Blackmore 41’, Pritchard 67’, Tong 69’
Red cards: nil