Perth SC shared the points with Stirling Macedonia on Friday night after an entertaining 2-2 draw in Round 14 of the NPLM competition at Dorrien Gardens.
Macedonia went ahead twice in the first half – the first coming after just two minutes through Callum McKenzie before Asher Nelson put them ahead again in the 28th minute, but the Azzurri pegged them back with Daniel Faichney’s first half strike and Abdul Osman’s equaliser in the 66th minute.
The Azzurri had two golden chances to win it in the second half, with defender Federico Achilli blasting over the bar from close range and Faichney having his shot saved by Stirling keeper James Bosdet in injury time.
The visitors also could have grabbed all three points with substitute Leigh Griffiths denied twice late in the game by Azzurri custodian Mateusz Zaniewski – the second save one from the top draw by the imposing Polish keeper.
Perth SC finished the game with 10 men after young defender Luca Hirninger was sent off after his second bookable offence in the 83rd minute.
The draw means Stirling Macedonia retained the Dylan Tombides Trophy after it also ended all square between the two sides at Macedonia Park earlier in the season.
An excellent Friday night crowd at Dorrien Gardens certainly got its money’s worth in a match fitting of the occasion, particularly late in the second half where it was frenetic end-to-end football.
McKenzie, Macedonia’s new Scottish import, got the opener after being the recipient of an errant pass from Azzurri midfielder Sammie Riak. He looked dangerous all night and forced a save from Zaniewski in the 14th minute after once again benefiting from a stray pass from the home side.
It was a mistake at the other end that gave the Azzurri the equaliser. Osman closed down Stirling defender Aston Montgomery as Macedonia tried to play out from a goal kick. The ricochet ended up at the feet of Faichney, who calmly slotted past Bosdet.
Macedonia were back in front just before the half-hour mark when a cross from Alex Tanevski on the right was not dealt with by the Azzurri defence. The ball landed at the feet of Euan Cameron, whose shot across goal ended up being a great ball for Nelson at the far post, who neatly tucked it away past Zaniewski.
Stirling could have extended their lead in 35th minute when Tanevski headed Kade Fearnall’s free-kick over Zaniewski, only for Hirninger to clear off the line to ensure the Azzurri were only one goal down at the break.
Some excellent play by substitute Jamie McNelis on the right led to the Azzurri equaliser in the 66th minute. A neat one-two with Josh Cala led to a pass from McNelis to Osman, who fired past Bosdet after a neat first touch set up the strike.
The Azzurri now had the momentum and Sean O’Connor’s long range effort nearly paid dividends a minute later after it was deflected by Stirling’s new defender Riley Warland and looped onto the top of the net to the relief of a stranded Bosdet.
Achilli’s hot chance came in the 74th minute. Hirninger’s header from an Ethan Banks corner was saved by Bosdet and Achilli should have done better than to fire over the bar from inside the six-yard box on the rebound.
Griffiths had his first chance from the resulting goal kick, latching on to a misguided header from Achilli, but his shot was straight at Zaniewski.
The former Celtic striker thought he had the winner in the 80th minute when he got on the end of a Stirling counter-attack, cutting inside from the left before firing low to Zaniewski’s right, but the Azzurri keeper got a hand to it to pull off a fantastic save.
Faichney nearly grabbed all three points for the Azzurri in the second minute of injury time, but he was denied by Bosdet after getting on the end of O’Connor’s pass.
Perth SC are back at Dorrien Gardens on Saturday afternoon to take on Sorrento. Kick-off is 3pm.