The Lions' biggest league game of the season against the runaway Division 2 leaders ended in a gutting loss. A late penalty and a simple finish on the stroke of full time, gave the game a cruelly lopsided score line, when for 85 minutes it looked certain to be heading towards a goalless stalemate.
Not for the first time this season, we were missing some key personnel for a clash against another top-half team, but after last week's battling performance to take a win with 10 men, we were confident that we had the players to get a result here. Harry joined Ben B up front in place of the suspended Max and absent Nelson, Paul was back in goal and Ed and Ahmed back at the heart of defence.
Considering the teams involved, it's perhaps not surprising that although there was plenty of quality football from both sides, there was very little in the way of goalmouth action throughout most of the game. Possession was evenly balanced, the build up play was good, but both defences were solid and even when gaps appeared, the quality of the final pass or shot wasn't quite good enough to trouble either keeper.
Apart from a couple of tame efforts straight at Paul, the closest either side got to scoring was when Albion hit the bar from range late in the first half. He had to come off his line quickly a couple of times to close down an attacker who'd gotten through us, but was never seriously stretched. Similarly, we put a couple of headers over the bar and had some shots blocked, but we never tested their keeper.
The second half was more of the same, but we started off very flat for some reason and seemed to take a while to get going. It's not as if we went to pieces and they were all over us, we just didn't have the same energy on or off the ball as we did in the first half.
We improved as the half went on and Harry flashed a shot across the face of the goal after Ben put in a low cross from the right. Their attacks were still not amounting to much, with Nick S and Ben P excellent in the wing-backs role and Mike, Nath and Ahmed clearing up in the centre. As the game wore on, it looked like it was going to take something special or some mistake, to carve open the one chance that could settle the match. Rob was in an excellent position to do just that when he found himself picked out unmarked, just inside the area. Agonisingly for all in Lion blue though, he launched his first time shot high over the bar.
That was by far the best opportunity either side had until the last few minutes turned the game on its head. After a bit of a scramble from one of their corners, one an Albion forward tried to turn goalwards, but got clattered by Ben P. It was in the area and it was a stonewall penalty, no arguments from anybody. We couldn't believe it, not least Ben himself and we looked to Paul to pull off a little miracle as he faced the spot-kick.
Sadly, it wasn't to be and the penalty was dispatched to Paul's right as he dived left. There was barely 4 minutes left in which to salvage something from the game and we piled forwards, now desperate for that elusive goal. With a minute to go, we won a corner that was sent in with purpose but the ball just wouldn't bounce anywhere in the area kindly enough for a Lion boot or head to send it into the net.
Instead, the ball was hoofed upfield where we only had two back given our commitment to getting the equaliser. Their attacker broke clear and Paul got halfway up the pitch to intercept him but the ball still broke to another Albion player who lobbed the ball goalwards from his own half. It was a good attempt and would have been in were it not for Michael who had gotten himself on the line to volley it away.
Again though, the ball fell to an Albion player following up and he simply put the shot low past Michael for their second. The final whistle below within seconds of the restart, leaving us floored and Albion ecstatic. They knew they'd been in a tough game and until the penalty, the most likely outcome looked to be an honourable draw. This game does kick you in the teeth sometimes...
So after Lokomotive, this is the second occasion where we've failed to get on the scoresheet and fallen to a team near the top of the table. Regardless of how good Albion are (and they are very good, well-deserving of their current league position) we matched them and deserved a point at least. Now we need to ensure that we get another chance at them after the division splits, starting with our next game against Hersham.
