Brereton Lion crashed out of the Cannock Chase Cup in the second round with a poor display at home against Div 2 leaders Victoria.
Victoria had been "Bigged Up" on the social media sites and their league form was impressive with 7 wins out of 7. However the Lion have been in strong form and currently sit top of the Premier League so manager Corigan thought his side would have enough. The Lion were a penalty kick away from winning this cup last season and they were hoping for another strong run.
A bad start to the day with most players rocking up later than the expected meeting time and looking hungover. The kick off was delayed to let the Cushens enter the pitch with Danny sleeping in and Ben running late after fetching Jake Daley.
This sloppy start to the game definitely had an effect when Victoria opened the scoring after only 2 minutes gone in the match. A direct free kick was struck well and on target but I feel that a fully warmed up and ready Dan Cushen would have saved the effort instead of it hitting the back of the net.
0-1
The worst possible start for the The Lion but they regrouped well and took the game to the opposition. The Lion were whipping in some dangerous free kicks and corners but were not gambling enough on the set pieces and could not find a goal. The attacking trio of Simpson, Cunningham and Baker were trying their best to get attacks moving but a boggy Social pitch was not allowing the quick passing game to flow from the midfield.
Credit to Victoria who battled well for each other and were happy to work and defend their one goal lead. They have probably the worst collection of loudmouth gobshites on the line that I have ever seen with at least 5 or 6 of their "managment team" berating any decision given by the ref or the very honest linesman Stevey Phillips. The Lion never really created many clear cut chances, with too many players struggling to find composure and skill in a hectic game. The poorest Lion half so far this season.
HT 0-1
Alex Houston replaced the struggling Franklin at half time with The Lion trying an attacking 3-5-2 formation. However it was soon quite clear that the Lion were not well suited to this formation and they had to reshuffle to 4-4-2. Once again The Lion huffed and puffed but did not really create many great chances. Houston was working hard to get to the byline and Cunningham was always trying to swivel in behind the away defence. Its games like this that you almost cry out for the more physical presence of Gary Dunn who would have added a bit of height up front for The Lion if he was not stuck at work. Stockhall, Cowlishaw and Baker were trying to grab a goal with some efforts from range.
The Lion went two goals down on the hour when the referee decided that a tackle by Ben Cushen was worthy of a foul. A dodgy decision but in fairness the ref had already waved away a couple of decent penalty shouts from The Vic and I think that was on his mind when he awarded it. The penalty was calmly tucked away by the opposition.
0-2
The Lion were craving a goal to get back into this game and thought they had one when top goal scorer Baker beat the offside trap and raced away. Bullet almost had too much time and decided to try and round the keeper, however Bullet now lost the angle and The Vic cleared the ball. A shame because a goal at this point would have been more of a lifeline.
Credit to The Lion who kept battling away to try and get a goal to get back into this game. Daley and Grant stepped off the bench to add pace into the attack. It was Grant who got the Lion's only goal when he received a square pass from Cunningham on 88 minutes to tap home. 2-1.
The worst thing to see in this game was the on field arguing and bitching which enraged Corrigan and needs to stop now.
The Lion just could not get that last goal and despite battling well the game finished in defeat.
FT 1-2
Gutted to see The Lion exit so early, especially against a lower league side at home. The attitude shown throughout the game by the Victoria staff was also hard to take and made the defeat even harder to swallow.
We need to get back into good habits with regards pre match drinking and time keeping as they both had big parts to play in this defeat. If we are serious about winning anything this season then we cant take any opposition lightly and be up for every game.
Still not sure if we have a game next week now that RWB have folded. As soon as I know I will let everyone know.
MOM= Not a lot of candidates for this one with nearly every player playing well below the standards that have been set lately but Changy kept battling well and was a rare bright point.
