Brereton Lion continued their strong early season start to the Cannock Chase Premier League with a convincing win against Premier Suite.
The Lion knew the opposition well after winning easily against them at Hednesford Park in the cup a few weeks back. The Lion could not take things for granted though and this strong Lion squad was pushed to its limits with Cunningham, Cowlishaw, Wright, Franklin, Stockhall, Houston, Chandler and Crutchley all unavailable for selection. Corrigan opted for an attacking 4-4-2 formation with Cushen in nets, a defence of Matyus, Cushen , Dutton and Harry Wright. Midfield seen Carter and Daley in the middle with Simpson and Baker on the flanks. The forward line consisted of Dunn in the hole with Crozier charged with gambling on the last man. The only subs were Keegan Grant and Corrigan himself.
Premier Suite looked strong early on and were playing very direct football. Credit to the Lion defence who played with a high line and kept on catching the opposition forwards offside easily. D Cushen had a fairly quiet start to the game with a few crosses being collected easy enough. Matyus was in commanding defensive form, showing his pace and strength time and time again. The Lion started to look like they were going to score with Simpson and Baker always looking threatining out wide. The Lion opened the scoring on 20 minutes with a great team goal. Ben Cushen was allowed time to get his head up and pick out a pass from his own half,. His well aimed pass was controlled superbly by Dunn, who then swivelled and noticed that Baker was making a direct run from the right wing. A lovely through ball killed the left back and left Bullet racing at goal. Bullet could have squared it to Crozier but instead had the confidence to tuck home a left footed shot past the keeper. 1-0. A great goal.
The Lion's tails were up and some superb football was being played. H Wright was showing great composure on the ball and was always a confident outlet going forward. Dunn and Daley were guilty of missing some decent chances and The Lion bench started to think that The Lion were not going to get the goals that their great play deserved. And then up stepped Crozier!!!! After missing most of pre season through his excursions Crozier has found it hard to get much game time so far and was not happy with being constantly overlooked by Corrigan. Lesser players have thrown in the towel already this season and joined lower league clubs (Chase Spartans anyone????) but Crozier has waited patiently for his chance and boy oh boy did he take it today. His first goal and The Lions second was one of the best team moves I have ever seen from this Lion side. Daley started the move by powerfully attacking the box and finding Simpson on the edge of the area. Simpson skilfully delivered a quick cross and Crozier steamed in to head home. 2-0
Corrigan had asked pre match for some direct crosses onto the heads of Dunn and Crozier, pointing out that both Dunn and Crozier are great in the air, and this tactic proved to work again five minutes later. Simpson whipped in a superb inswinging corner and Crozier leapt like a salmon in a crowded area to head home. 3-0.
Dunn was showing some superb touches and Ash Carter was carrying on his superb form by winning every header and tackle he went in for. JR Dutton was showing his class at the back and Bullet was so direct in his running that the away defence simply could not stop him.
HT 3-0 A superb Lion half full of running, tackling and hard work. More of the same was asked for.
A slightly sloppy start to the 2nd half by the high standards that the The Lion had set in the 1st half. Prem Suite never really threatened and The Lion lads were starting to tire after a demanding 1st half in the heat.
Finally The Lion woke up a bit and started to attack with urgency again. Dunn and Simpson combined to send a dangerous ball into the box for Carter to chase after. The away keeper stayed stuck on his line and left his defender in no mans land. The despairing defender attempted a wild clearance under pressure that flew into his own net. 4-0.
The Lion attack had the visitors in knots and credit to them, with so many attacking players missing The Lion still looked sharp going forward. Goal number 5 was soon on its way and it was another well worked team goal and a hat trick goal for Crozier. Bullet once again skinned his marker and smashed in a cross from the right wing. Crozier met it with real pace and hammered the ball into the corner. 5-0. Dunn nearly made it six when his shot hit the bar.
Keegan Grant replaced Bullet with 25mins to go and showed some superb skills and turns. Prem Suite got a late goal when some sloppy defending allowed their forward the chance to round Dan Cush and score. 5-1.
with such a convincing scoreline manager Corrigan even fancied five minutes up front and replaced the impressive Dunn to add pace, flair and power in attack!!!!!!!!!!!!
FT 5-1 A great display against a premier league side. Really happy and buzzing how the team performed. MOM Crozier for 3 superb finishes but a big shout out to Dunn, Simpson and Baker for some great assists. EVeryone put in a great shift and passed the ball well. Next week we face our old enemy Ridware Oak in the league away. Never an easy place to go and The Lion will have to battle hard to try and remain second in the table.
