Report by Ghaz Ramli

Pictured: Floreat Athena's Lewis McMahon. Photo: Peter Simcox

Floreat Athena made it three wins from three with a 1-0 victory over Stirling Lions in their PS4 National Premier Leagues fixture at Macedonia Park.

Lewis McMahon was fouled on 12 minutes and stepped up to convert his own penalty, which proved to be enough for the hosts.

Coach Glenn Grostate praised his side's performance in the first half and the spirit within the team, despite injuries to five key players.

"We could have been up 3-0 in the first half but couldn’t convert all of our chances,” he said

“The boys have really bonded. They spend time together on and off the pitch and that showed in their performance.

“We had to show our depth today with several injuries, but we worked hard.”

Floreat immediately got to work, pressing the hosts with a series of defence-splitting passes.

Clayton Arnez came close inside six minutes when he found himself one-on-one but Lions' keeper Connor Campbell managed to block his effort.

Soon after, Lions' midfielder Boas Mtwale was penalised for bringing McMahon down in the box, and the striker made no mistake from the spot.

Floreat came close to doubling their lead just before the break when Floreat skipper Ludovic Boi fired over.

Stirling came out in the second half and attacked, but were unable to find a lethal touch in front of goal to the frustration of Lions coach Rob Milevski.

"We need to keep it simple up front," he said. "We knew it was going to be a tight game so we needed to make most of our chances," he said.

We conceded an early goal which we didn’t want, couldn’t string passes together, and made some basic errors.”

Floreat will look to continue their run of wins when they host Subiaco, while Stirling travel south to play Armadale.

Stirling Lions 0
Floreat Athena 1 (Lewis McMahon pen 12th min)
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Macedonia Park
Kick-off: 3:00pm

Stirling Lions: 24. Connor CAMPBELL, 2. Boas MTWALE, 3. Steve PURTON, 5. Viktor ATANASOVSKI, 6. Brodie MARTIN, 8. Tim HILL (4. Michael PUGLIESE 56’), 10. Daniel MICEVSKI, 11. Moses KALAU (9. Teeboy KAMARA 70’), 14. Lawrence SHURUMA (Brian WOODALL 88’), 15 Robert PETKOV, 18 Nathan BOWDEN-HASSE
Yellow cards: Boas MTWALE 12’, Lawrence SHURUMA 20’,  Moses KALAU 41’.

Floreat Athena: 23. Dejan ALEKSIC, 2 Blair GOVAN, 3. Jack ALLEN, 4. Aryn WILLIAMS, 5. Bobby WILSON, 6. Clayton ARNEZ, 11. Dennis GALAN, 12. Kris GATE (10. Andrew Scaldaferro 46’), 14. Ludovic BOI, 15. Anthony BAFOBUSHA ,20. Lewis MCMAHON,
Yellow cards: 3. Jack ALLEN (42 min), 20. Lewis MCMAHON (65 min), 4. Aryn WILLIAMS (68 min)