Lions roaring after big win over Armadale
Report by Paul J. Laverty
Stirling showed their quality to brush aside Armadale with a convincing win at Macedonia Park on Saturday.
Stirling had much of the early pressure but were struggling to make it count until the 21st minute when Daniel Micevski played a neat one-two with Alex Tanevski and ran on to make a decisive finish.
Minutes later the score was doubled when Lukas De Lima sent Micevski through, only to see his effort blocked leaving the unmarked Tanevski to slot home the rebound.
It could have been three just before the break when the in-form Micevski had two efforts from inside the box expertly saved by Michael Craggs in the Armadale goal to keep them in it.
Craggs almost let the ball sneak through his legs moments into the restart but redeemed himself shortly after when he saved at the feet of Moses Kalau when the wide-man was in on goal to keep Armadale in it.
Armadale had chances to get back into the match with Jake Sardelic blasting straight at Stirling keeper John Perkins from close-range, and then, with the keeper stranded, Sardelic again had an opportunity to grab a goal but couldn’t keep the loose ball beneath the bar.
On 67 minutes Moses Kalau put the game beyond Armadale’s reach when he latched onto a Blamo Qua Qua pass and atoned for his earlier miss by placing the ball past the keeper.
Stirling substitute Steve Sokol then smacked the bar following great link-up play yet again from Lions’ standouts Tanevski and Micevski.
But Sokol got his goal and put the icing on the cake when he fired home from close-range following a nifty knockdown from fellow sub Alex Suleski.
Armadale coach John O’Reilly was disappointed with the loss but believed his side was progressing.
“We created some chances although the score-line doesn’t show it, but how we were set up to start with probably played into their hands and they executed a lot better than us today,” he said.
His counterpart Rob Milevski praised his side’s current form.
“It’s very pleasing, it’s our third clean sheet and we worked very hard, pressed from the front, created a lot of opportunities and scored four great goals.”
Stirling Lions 4 (Daniel Micevski 21min, Tanevski 29, Kalua 67, Sokol 90+3)
Armadale 0
Saturday, April 8, 2017
Macedonia Park
Kick-off: 3.00pm
Referee: Sorousha Moayer
Assistant referees: Michael Jasinski, Jatin Lodhia
Stirling Lions: 1. John PERKINS, 2. Michael PUGLIESE (3. Alex SULESKI 73), 4. Blamo QUA QUA, 6. Dejan SPASESKI, 9. Alex TANEVSKI (7. Milorad VUJACIC 88) 10. Daniel MICEVSKI, 14. Lukas DE LIMA (8. Steve SOKOL 58) 15. Shane CASSIDY, 16. Mathaing MATHIANG, 17. Darren O’RIORDAN, 18 Moses KALAU
Substitutes not used: 2. Jason RUBIDGE, 20. Lance ALAVAKIS
Yellow cards: O’Riordan, Mathiang
Red cards: Nil
Armadale: 1. Michael CRAGGS, 2. Dylan WHITE (16. Tristan TAYLOR 69), 3. Jake SARDELIC, 4. Nathan COSTELLO, 5. Sam LOVELESS, 6. Beau RAHIM (10. Papa KPATAR 46), 7. Charlie KENNA, 8. Jordan PAVETT, 9. Kyle KING, 11. Dannie RICHMAN (17. James ATKINS 74) 14. David ANNALL,
Substitutes not used: 30. Alec RADONICH
Yellow Cards: nil
Red Cards: nil
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