A late goal in each half did for the Lions in a closely fought game that may have put paid to our title hopes.
Line up:
Dorian (GK)
Phil (RB), Simon (CB), Matt R (CB), Dale (LB)
JP (CM), Danny (CM), Brett (CM)
Kyle (RF), Lee (CF), Gary (LF)
Dave was absent from the game due to a house move, so Brett took on the managerial duties. This meant a substantially lower f-word count in the team talk although it was still Dave's line-up.
We needed a good start after the disappointment against Royal Oak the last time out but we were on the back foot for the opening few minutes. They pressed us and we initially struggled to get out of our half, not helped by giving away the ball and silly free kicks just outside our area. Dorian did well to punch clear one such free kick but we came up against yet another long throw specialist who gaves us problems all game.
However, for all their iniital pressure, it was us who got the first significant shot on goal. Gary picked up the ball on the left and made a run that ended with a ball breaking to Lee who unleashed a low shot that the keeper did well to parry away.
They had the better of the first half and went close with a couple of shots from inside the area that only just went wide. They almost got through when Dorian just got a hand to shot at his near post, but the ball was kept in by their player on the byline. He put the ball back into the mix, it was blocked and broke to another of their players who sent it across the face of the goal just past the post.
Despite their pressure we were defending well and we came close ourselves with a great free kick from Gary that was just tipped onto the bar by the keeper. We did create openings but we couldn't get any more decent efforts on goal.
Their goal was a sucker punch at the end of the half after we managed to hold them off. Their player managed to get a shot away from the edge of the area and although it wasw blocked, it fell to their forward who managed to turn Matt and put in a shot across the goal from a tight angle that nestled just inside the post. Guttingly, the ref blew straight after the restart and although they probaly deserved the lead for all their pressure, it was still hard to take.
The seoond half, Scott came on up front for Kyle and Lee went to the right. Scott had an early opportunity to level when the ball popped up nicely for him in the area but his crisp volley went just over the bar.
We had another handball incident in the penalty for the second game running and yet again nothing was given by the ref. Someone put in a shot and it was divereted by the hand of one of their players around the post. The ref - who couldn't keep up with play all game - was on the halfway line so he had no chance of seeing it.
Dorian made some good one-on-one saves and we were still defending well. Simon got clobbered with studs down his shin and the gouge was there for all to see, but no free kick was given. As we kept pushing for the equaliser, we got caught out when we lost the ball in our half,. It was picked up by a runner from midfield and he ran on to score with a rising drive into the roof of the net.
The final whistle went a couple of minutes later and we were left to reflect on a performance that restored some pride but was ultimately without enough quality to get anything from the game.
One stats footnote to the game though: the two-nil defeat means that it ends up square in every which way against Double H for the season. 1 win, each 1 draw, 7 goals each.
