At long last the new season is here. However, the LHC management agree that it has come round a few weeks early!! With players leaving and new players coming in, we found that todays starting 11 had not had time to gel together.
Our first match in a new division was against the relegated Selly Oak, a team which had been tipped to win the league. Life in Division 2 started in the worst way as LHC went 1-0 down within 2 minutes of kick off. A miss time tackle allowed a Selly Oak striker to get one no one with Carl and he slotted the ball into the net. 1-0. After 15 minutes Selly Oak doubled their lead when their left winger had the time and space to get a shot off and curled the ball into the back of the net. 2-0. LHC had some good possession but the good play seemed to fall apart the closer we got to the Selly Oak box. 20 minutes in though, an injury to new boy Jack forced a substitution, Webby came on to replace him. LHC then had a goal disallowed, Grovesy crossed a ball in from the right and Bob challenged the Selly Oak keeper in the air for the ball. The Keeper fumbled the ball which fell to Lee on the edge of the area who half volleyed the ball into the back of the net. The Linesman put his flag up straight away to flag Bob offside for standing in the way of the keeper during the shot. Just before half time Selly Oak increased their lead when the ball was headed past Carl off a freekick. 3-0 at half time.
An injury to Robbie forced another change with Calin coming on to replace him. 5 minutes after the restart Selly Oak again increased their lead when a long throw into the box was headed on and into the goal. 4-0. The good play from the LHC midfield continued but again we failed to make an impact in the Selly Oak box. After an hour Calin picked up the teams first yellow card of the season for what the referee deemed a bad challenge. 5 minutes after that Selly Oak scored their 5th of the match when they broke down LHC's left hand side. A cross was put into the box and their striker tapped the ball home from close range. LHC piled the pressure on for the remaining 25 minutes but failed to make the possession count in the end. 5-0 final score.
LHC played some good football today and some would say 5-0 is a bti of a harsh scoreline, but at the end of the day Selly Oak took the chances they were presented with where as LHC failed to. Playing a 3-5-2 formation with some new faces in didn't help either but if the squad can continue to play the same way the defence can only get stronger and the strikers more on target. St Matt's at home in our next match. Hopefully, LHC can replicate the Cup win ovewr them from last year.
