After ten years of dreaming, the dream has finally come true: Surbiton Lions are Cup Winners! In front of dozens of friends and family, the Lions and Chessington Galaxy played out an exciting, tense, sometimes bruising final in which both keepers excelled and the wide pitch stretched players' bodies to the limit and beyond. A nervy first half saw few chances created but the game exploded into life after the break. Each side looked likely to score and goals were disallowed at both ends before Max and Nelson found the finishes to bring the cup home.
An unseasonably hot and clear April evening saw the Lions and Galaxy squads arrive at Banstead Athletic Football Ground, each suitably dressed (with a few exceptions) for this auspicious occasion in trousers, shirts and matching ties in their respective team colours. This was Galaxy's second final in three years, whereas this was all new to the Lions so it was nice for us to see that making an effort with the squad's pre-match attire was the right choice.
This final brought together the two leading teams of the division, who have each been on a fantastic run of form this year. Galaxy with an impressive 10 wins on the bounce from the 17th of December last year and still undefeated after drawing against Reigate Hill Reserves in their last league game. The Lions had achieved an all-time high of 9 wins on the trot from the same date. This was emphatically brought to a halt by Epsom Albion but we are still within a point of securing the division title. Also the two highest scoring teams in the division, both also capable of leaking a goal or 3, it was all set up to be a special occasion.
After the teams had been led out, the pre-match handshakes had been done and Jamie had finally found his true calling with his full-on Lion outfit for mascot duties, the teams got down to the business of getting their hands on the cup.
Straight away it was obvious that the occasion had gotten to most of the Lions players as we made a nervy start and struggled to get into the match. Galaxy were dominating our midfield and setting up attacks that took some pretty robust challenges to stop. The nerves definitely seemed to be playing a part in some of the silly fouls we were conceding early on and Si was fortunate to escape without a yellow for taking out a Galaxy player in full flight towards our penalty area. On the other hand Nick S got clattered with a high challenge that he had good reason to be none too happy with.
The tackles went in thick and hard but there was still some decent football being played by both sides. Paul got called into action to tip over a wayward defensive header from his own player and made an excellent save down low to his right from a ground skimmer of a free kick, getting enough on it to send the ball spinning over the bar.
At the other end Gary got on the end of a pass in the area that had him going away from goal but he still managed to fire away a decent shot back across the goal with his less favoured left foot. It was heading in but the Galaxy keeper adjusted his body superbly to get a strong left hand to it. Gary had another opportunity a few minutes later in a one-on-one with the keeper but his attempt to place a shot was well parried.
We lost Ed through injury after he rolled his ankle coming down from a header, with Boan slipping into his vacated position. Max and Gary harried the defence but apart from Gary's previously mentioned attempts, neither could find enough space to get any decent effort away. The midfield trio of Bache, Harry and Rob struggled to get into the action, with the game bypassing them for large periods of that first half.
For their part, despite looking threatening going forward and generally playing the better football, Galaxy didn't have many clear sights of goal either. Apart from the free kick, Paul was not seriously troubled as Nath, Boan and Si just about managed to contain the opposition attackers. The frequency of the Galaxy attacks meant Kieran and Nick S couldn't get forward as much they usually do, but despite not being at their best, they like the rest of the Lions, still did enough to see out the half without conceding.
Forgoing the hot and stuffy changing rooms for half time team talk on the pitch, we went through the many things that weren't going right, which basically boiled down to nerves. Getting through that first period all square gave us some much needed confidence to play our own game and the second half saw us rise to the occasion.
As we've done so often in the past, we started the second half much better and got a major boost by the introduction of Nelson, who had just overhauled Scott's long-standing record for most goals scored in a season. With Gary dropping to left wing-back, Nelson set about the defence with his strength and speed and instantly gave them a completely new set of problems to handle.
We were starting to look more dangerous going forward, but an early corner for Galaxy appeared to stop our momentum in its tracks when a light blue-clad player rose highest to head the ball down over the line. The goal didn't stand though, because the corner had been put in before the ref was ready. He'd blown his whistle to sort out some pushing in the area, not for the corner to be taken as everybody else had assumed, so we really got away with one there. The actual corner itself came to nothing.
We then had the ball in the back of the net ourselves after a slick move through the middle saw both Max and Nelson running through on goal, with Max getting the final touch. However, this was ruled offside (not sure who it was actually against) much to the vocal objections of many on the Lions bench, which were strong enough to get the ref over to warn us about our conduct.
So all square in goals disallowed and the contest was starting to heat up. Galaxy were putting in a number of attacks down our right but their efforts on goal were either tame or wide of the mark. The big breakthrough of the night though came from our attack on their right, with Kieran getting up the pitch to put in a cross that could have been easily hoofed out the box by the defender. For reasons known only to him, he instead tried to control the ball and Max was in close attendance to pounce on a missed attempt at a clearance and prod the ball home from a few yards.
No controversy or debate this time, the Lions had taken the lead with a half hour to go. Galaxy continued to press, but we now looked capable of scoring every time we got to the final third. Nelson had a great opportunity to get the second when he got on the end of a cross at the back post, but his header went skywards rather than under the bar.
At the other end, we survived a frantic goalmouth scramble and a ball pinged across the face of the goal that was fortunate not to be met by anyone's boot. Paul came off his line well to deny an attacker who tried to lift the ball over him when put through one-on-one. Not content with just making saves, though, he amused himself and the crowd with a mini-Cruyff turn when collecting a back pass that had the attacker closing him down fooled. His watching team-mates may have been less amused with his antics at this stage of the game, especially considering what happened to Lewis when he tried the same thing a few months ago against Reigate (he fell over and his blushes were only spared when the attacker missed the open goal), but it came off and we could all breathe again.
Subs for the Lions were now coming thick and fast. Ben now in place of Harry in the midfield was doing his best to help out the defence, whilst still trying to the Lions up the pitch. Scott - on for Max - was living up to his "Hold-up King" moniker, exemplified by a neat bit of play at the near touchline, when he kept control of a ball into him despite the close attentions of two Galaxy players and got the pass away in Nelson's general direction. Actually, the pass was well overhit, but what went before it was a lovely bit of play.
As the half wore on, the strain of covering the wide pitch caught up on the legs of the Lions players and with the 80 minute mark approaching, Kieran suddenly went over with a scream in our half close to the near touchline. It was soon obvious that Kieran couldn't continue, so on went Harry as Kieran rolled himself off the pitch.
As our highly trained medic tried to stretch Kieran's cramp out, a punt upfield from Paul got knocked on by Bache to Scott, who put Nelson through with a nifty little flick. Nelson outsprinted the defence and kept his cool to send the ball high over the oncoming keeper's flailing arm into the back of the net and send the Lions into absolute raptures. Apart from a ridiculous scoring record, Nelson's other claim to fame this season is that we've won every game he's appeared in, even when he hasn't scored. Getting that goal on the biggest stage in Lions ten years of existence finally gave us the belief that this actually could be our night.
But Galaxy weren't out of it by any means and just kept coming at us. Rob got booked for a bit of silliness when he tried to hang onto the ball after conceding a foul. Ahmed, who was on for Boan got in a few good blocks down our right (it was a really wide pitch so I have no idea what happened on the other side of it) but he somewhat needlessly gave away a free kick just outside our area. The booking he got for it was a bit harsh, but the free-kick itself was even more painful, as it was curled rather sweetly around the wall, just inside the far post and beyond the reach of Paul's outstretched palm.
For the watching Lions and their supporters, those last few minutes were pretty nerve-wracking, not helped by seeing our players elect to keep crossing the ball into the box for their goalie to catch and punt upfield rather than keep it in the opposition corner. Much as they pressed forward though, Galaxy were unable to find a way past our tiring but steadfast defence. They had one final free kick that was hoisted into the box but when that was cleared, the whistle went and the night had been won by the side in the darker shade of blue.
The players on the bench poured onto the pitch, the players on the pitch wanted to collapse on it. It had been a tough game of football, physically and mentally and both sides deserve enormous credit for their performances. Galaxy were the better side in the first half, but couldn't capitalise on their superiority. We arguably shaded it in the second half and the eventual winner was an excellent goal worthy of settling a final.
The ref had a good game and deserves some credit for allowing the game and the players to settle after the initial rash of challenges that could easily have merited cards on another occasion. Credit is also due to the ref assistants and apologies to Mark on the near touchline for all the stick he got from the Lions players.
Commiserations to Chessington Galaxy, it was a great game of football that could easily have gone your way. Frankly, if it had gone to extra time, it probably would have, considering all bar one of our subs was crocked or knackered and half the players still on the pitch wanted to come off.
Thanks to Paul, Sue, Simon and the rest of the Chessington and District Sunday League committee for arranging the final and the very nice trophies, which were way more substantial than the medals I was expecting. Many thanks too to Banstead Athletic Sports Ground for hosting the final and the Lions afterwards.
Thanks to all those who came to watch: regardless of who you were cheering on, your presence was much appreciated. In particular it was great to see former players Dale Jones and Darren Fleming in attendance and a very special mention for our former player/manager JP Sheahan who was also there. Thanks guys for coming down to give the current Lions your support and seeing a little bit history being made for our club.
It's been a long time coming, but there is a finally a big shiny cup with "Surbiton Lions" on it. Well done on a fantastic achievement to all the players who gave everything on the night to win this trophy and thanks to all those who played in the preceding rounds. Biggest congratulations go to Nathan, the architect of this season's success, who has now become the first Lions manager to win silverware. Nice!
Surbiton Lions: Intermediate Oak Cup Winners 2018
