A hard-fought match against our namesakes (although neither of us actually plays in Surbiton) was tipped in the Lions favour by goals from Nelson and Harry in the latter stages. In terms of the Division 2 table, the win not only consolidated our lead at the top but meant that the top 7 teams were finally settled as AFC had to win this match to have any hope of breaking into this group and being part of the higher division after the split.
Another full squad for match day (amazing how a good run of results can motivate people to make themselves available...) and after beating our nearest rivals on the way to hitting the top of the division, the team was in confident mood. Probably too confident as we struggled to hit the performance levels we'd shown in recent weeks in a first half low on quality. We struggled to keep possession, too often passing the ball around nicely a few times at the back before losing patience and trying a "Hollywood" ball forwards that went straight to the opposition.
AFC Surbiton have had some good results recently and were good at moving the ball from the back to their midfield but they lacked a decent final ball and carried no real goal threat in the first half. Lewis was untroubled in our goal, whereas their keeper put in a shift to keep the first half goal-less.
He got down really well to turn a shot from Max around the post and got out quickly to deny Gary in a one-on-one race. One of the best openings came early on when Ben B seemed to nonchalantly stroll with the ball right through their defence, but he then dragged his left-footed shot just wide of the post. Bache skimmed the top of the cross-bar with a shot from the right, Boan had an effort from distance go wide and went closest of all with a well-directed header from a corner that was headed off the line by a defender.
So goal-less at half time and in chances created, we'd shaded it. We knew though, that it had so far been a poor performance, all stemming from the complacent attitude we had before kick off.
There was a marked improvement for the second half and for the first 15 minutes or so, we were pretty much camped in their half. Early on, the ball got cut back from the AFC byline by Nick S to Rob inside the six yard area, but he got his first time shot badly wrong as he managed to spoon the ball high over the bar whilst falling backwards.
Rob then got a bit upset (well, even more so than usual) after a challenge on him went unpunished by the ref and he exacted an instant revenge on the nearest pink shirt that did get the ref's attention and a card for his trouble. This just seemed to spur Rob on to try and win the game by himself for the next few minutes but thankfully by shooting on sight rather than making more robust challenges that might have led to an early departure. Most of his shots in this period were a little wayward apart from a strike with his left foot after neatly controlling a pass with his chest that drew yet another good save from the keeper.
With a big squad there were a lot substitutions going on, which I've basically just guessed at in the timeline of this report, but it was definitely two of the later ones that contributed to the opening goal. Ben P came on to a solid job in midfield breaking up play and on one particular occasion found himself with time to pick out a ball to the right for another sub, Kieran to run onto. He fed a neat through ball to Nelson (having a much better game than last week) that evaded their last defender.
Nelson placed a shot low past the keeper that seemed to roll in slow motion towards the far corner of the goal. He must have been the only person on the pitch who had no doubt as to where it was going because you could literally have heard a pin drop as everyone else held their breath waiting, waiting, waiting - for ****s sake, why is it going so slow??!!! - until the moment it actually hit the net. The relief on the Lions side was very real as it was seriously starting to look like of those matches that could end in a draw or worse for us.
We nearly got a second when Kieran's shot from the right hit the inside of the left hand post but didn't go in, but the second did come not long after when Ben was upended by the keeper in the area. Harry was on hand this week for the spot-kick duty and he performed it emphatically with athumping strike into the corner that left the keeper rooted.
Nelson repeated Kieran's trick in hitting the inside of the far post from the right and their keeper again pulled off some decent saves to keep AFC in it, but they never really looked like getting a goal back, despite some late corners and set pieces. Boan, Ahmed and Rob now back in central defence dealt with everything that came their way really well, making interceptions, well-timed tackles and solid clearances. On the couple of occasions AFC got through, Lewis was fast of his area to clear the danger. Having said that we did survive a penalty shout when Lewis came off his line and got just enough of the ball before their striker fell over him to get be given the benefit of the doubt by the ref.
Amongst the multiple subs going on, a word on Max coming back on after being subbed at half time, managing to get booked within a few minutes and getting subbed off immediately afterwards as a precaution. We had the same ref who had been a bit lenient with him a couple of games back, so it's perhaps not that surprising that he ran out of patience.
But after all of that, we got the three points and a second clean sheet of the season to boot. This was a bit like the Epsom Albion game when we were on the wrong end of the same scoreline, so it's a very satisfying win against a difficult team.
The division has now been split into Divisions 2A and 3 and whilst there are still Division 2 fixtures to complete (including our last match against Surrey Wanderers Reserves), we start our Division 2A campaign next week against Epsom Albion Reserves. Confused? It'll all make sense at the end of the season...
