It’ll be back to basics this week after a youthful Inglewood United crashed 5-1 to Stirling Lions on a picturesque afternoon at Intiga Stadium. Ryan Clarke’s second half penalty conversion was the hosts’ only consolation as an experienced Stirling line-up pilled on the goals, Jack Salter and Phil Arnold netting two apiece with Moses Kalau helping himself to the remainder.
Caretaker coach Goran Stajic admitted his concern at Inglewood’s late first half collapse which allowed Stirling to put away three quick goals. “We were solid for the first 30 minutes,” said Stajic, whose team have conceded ten goals in two games. “We just crumbled like last week in a short span of 15 minutes … it’s something that obviously needs addressing.”
The opening exchanges were relatively tame before Stirling began to assert some authority. David Micevski, Hayden Doyle and Kalau each sent the ball goalward only to be met by the gloves of Luke Martino, who was superb between the posts. Eventually Stirling found a way through, Salter squeezing the ball in at close-range after meeting Kalau’s 38th minute cutback.
Inglewood’s found themselves another goal down just three minutes later when Doyle’s fierce strike from 18-metres glanced off Arnold. And there was worse to come for the home side as in stoppage time Kalau’s corner was allowed to pass through a crowded goalmouth to an unmarked Arnold, who had the simple task of tapping in his second of the day.
Referee Trent Fleskens showed Inglewood some mercy early in the second period by allowing play to continue after Martino clattered into Doyle. The addition of Abdul Kamara and Teeboy Kamara had the desired effect as Inglewood sought to cut the deficit. Aleks Vrteski was called into the action for the first time, moving sharply to keep out David Perich’s header.
Unfortunately, those hopes of a second half revival were ended on 57 minutes with Kalau finishing into an open goal following some tidy movement of the ball across the penalty box. Inglewood’s solitary goal arrived six minutes later when Clarke send Vrteski the wrong way from the spot after referee Fleskens deemed Pavlovic to have impeded Perich.
It didn’t take long for Stirling to resume that attack, Micevski sliding the ball to Salter who made no mistake scoring goal number five. Inglewood ran out the game strong without and were unlucky not to reel in the difference. Kamara had the ball taken off his boot by Vrteski, Pickering’s stooped header rose over the crossbar and just before the end Sesay dragged a low shot wide of the mark.
Match stats
Inglewood United 1 (Clarke 63)
Stirling Lions 5 (Salter 38, 70, Arnold 41, 45, Kalau 57)
Inglewood United: Luke Martino, Cameron Sutton (Jaedon Ewen 67), David Perich, Scott Blackmore, Jason Colli, Ryan Clarke, Sean Browne, Josh Demarte (Teeboy Kamara 54), Andrija Jukic, Marc Eldridge (Abdul Sesay 46), Shane Pickering
Stirling Lions: Aleks Vrteski, Michael Pugliese, Andy Brown, Jovo Pavlovic, Rikki Smith (Ali Gholami 16), Moses Kalau, Dean Evans (Miki Vujacic 72), David Micevski, Hayden Doyle (Robert Petkov 72), Phil Arnold, Jack Salter
Bookings: Jukic (60), Sesay (89)
Dismissals: Nil
