Another hat-trick from Nelson the goal machine, coupled with a brace from Max and penalty from Ben comprehensively swept aside Epsom Albion Reserves in the first ever fixture of Division 2A. The goal scorers were supported by excellent performances all over the pitch as Lions sealed a record seventh straight League win.
Although this was Albion reserves' home game, it was being played at our pitch, which is standing up to the wintry weather considerably better than their home pitch at Weston Green. We also had a new addition to the squad, Liam Basey, making his debut.
Regardless of our previous win against this team (who hadn't actually played a for a few weeks having completed their Divsion 2 games a while back) we couldn't take anything for granted if we wanted to maintain out momentum at the top. And we got off to a great start from an early corner that was kept alive by Rob on the right after it was cleared from the area. Rob made a nice turn and drove to the byline where he put in a low cross that was met by Nelson to tap in his first of the day.
In truth, Nelson could have had a hat-trick within the first 10 minutes as first he was denied by a fine save from the keeper who tipped his long range shot onto the underside of the bar and was then relieved to see it bounce off the line into his arms. Then a cross from the right just evaded Nelson first time round, but he managed to do a mid-air back heel that got the ball going on target, but the keeper got across to get in the way. That's not to mention a couple of other crosses that he came mighty close to making contact with as we really dominated the first half.
We had a slight scare when a long ball over the top caught us out as their striker got to it first but Paul stuck out a leg to divert the shot past the post. We then earned a penalty when Nelson's attempted shot was blocked by a defender's arm. Ben stepped up and despite the keeper getting a good hand to it, buried it into the bottom corner to take us up to 2-0.
The other Ben (or Pybus) had an excellent game and had a hand in the third when he got dispossessed in the midfield but then won back the ball via an excellent tackle and found his namesake with the forward pass. The ball got moved out to Max on the right and as usual he went forward taking on defenders but unusually let loose with an early shot from outside the area. The keeper tipped this onto the underside of the bar too but it had to much on it and we were now 3 up.
That's how it stayed until half time and apart from a couple of iffy moments when they got in behind us from a long ball, we were well in control.
We started the first half with an early goal and the second half was less than five minutes old when we'd extended our lead. A goal kick down the middle found Ben B, who turned and drove through the heart of their defence to lay the ball off to Max. He in turn advanced towards goal in the area but had the presence of mind to tap a sideways ball to an unmarked Nelson on his right, who had time to pick a spot low past the keeper and double his tally for the day.
Albion hit the bar with a long range effort and tried to use their wingers to make inroads on goal as they worked hard to get back into the game. One run from their right winger got him form deep in their half to our penalty area to earn them a corner but it was dealt with easily enough by the defence who were excellent and seemed to be heading for a consecutive clean sheet for the first time this season.
They weren't too bad in attack as Ahmed picked out Nick S with a lovely through ball from the centre of defence, that the left wing-back converted into a cross across the box. This was again met by Nelson to poke in for his third hat-trick of the season.
There was to be no clean sheet today though and Paul is still looking for his first one of the season. With Ahmed holding off their lively striker as the ball was rolling towards Paul, a bit of a mix up between himself and Ahmed as to who was going to deal with it, resulted in the striker getting a foot between the two to poke the ball into the corner.
The oppo were getting a few more shots in, but mostly off target by a mile, except for one which Paul did well to get down and parry round the post. But we had the last word on the goals front when Max got on the end of a rebound off the bar and his turn and shot found the bottom left corner.
Excellent performances all round with Mussa in defence, Kieran on the wing and Scotty the hold up king up front all contributing to a dominant win. It really should have been more and we did got another penalty decision for a hand ball when we were 5-0 up.
This time Harry stepped up for the spot kick. Harry who has so often been the first one to step forward and take the responsibility, delivering like a postman time and time again. Harry, Harry, oh Harry...it happens to the best of us and he is by no means the first Lions player to miss from 12 yards over the seasons. This one does rank as one of the worst misses ever though, perhaps only eclipsed by Gary's rage-boosted effort some years back against Castle Hill.
It was miles high and some way wide, definitely not the sort of miss you'd want captured on video if you were the taker. Except this one was, so instead of just describing how bad it was, I could actually show you instead if I was able to upload videos. However, thanks to Harry's best mate Chris, showing what a true friend he is, you can see it here: https://www.facebook.com/slfooty/videos/1771739366233623/
It was a minor blip, however, because like everyone else, Harry had a terrific game. Long way to go yet, but performances like these will keep us where we want to be.
