A penalty converted by summer recruit Chok Dau has secured Inglewood United a 1-1 draw with Stirling Lions from this evenings Night Series fixture at Percy Doyle Reserve.   The result keeps Inglewood third in Pool 1, level on points with Sorrento but trailing joint leaders Perth SC and Rockingham City, who play on Sunday.

Inglewood opened positively and controlled play for the most part, however, Stirling always looked threatening on the counterattack.   And it was Stirling that was on the scoreboard first with Kristian Despotovski touching in a curling David Molinari free-kick midway through the first half.

The teams were brought level after the interval when Dau make no mistake from the spot following a tidy exchange down the left between himself, Jason Barrera and Sammie Riak.   Alex Dunn then denied Stirling the lead by saving at the second attempt after Steve Sokol managed to get around the Inglewood custodian.

The game was almost over when Dau’s shot was cleared off the line by Darren O’Riordan amid protests from Inglewood that the ball had already entered the net.   The drama was not yet over with Stirling countering immediately through Josh Anasmo who was only thwarted by Mark Barnett’s superb last-gasp tackle.

Match stats

Inglewood United 1 (Chok Dau 65)
Stirling Lions 1 (Kristian Despotovski 31)

Inglewood United: Alex Dunn, Alex Ishida-Livings, Scott Blackmore, Mark Barnett, Jamie Murphy, Sammie Riak, Jason Barrera, Miki Vujacic (Kevin Castle 82), Hamza Hina (Adriano Jelanovic 46), Chok Dau, Mat Olango (John Lamai 46)

Stirling Lions: Ryan Montgomery, Nelson Tshongo, Alex Suleski, Darren O’Riordan, Dhours Chol, Dean Cummings, David Molinari, Steve Sokol, Kristian Despotovski (Ben Campbell 70), Josh Anasmo, Luke Serra

Bookings: Vujacic (20), Cummins (42)

Dismissals: Nil