The Lions got their second season in the Chessington & District Football League underway with a arrow defeat against tough opposition. We deserved at least a point from this game but were undone in the end by missed first half opportunities and a quality free kick.
Starting line up:
Dorian (GK)
Phil (RB), Simon (CB), Matt (CB), Dale (LB)
Gary (RM), JP (CM), Nathan (CM), Kevin (LM)
Lee M (CF), Scott (CF)
We had a slow start to the game and it took us a while to settle, which is not surprising considering it was our first competitive game. That said, the opposition - who won in the only fixture on the opening day of the season - didn't create many goal threatening opportunities themselves. Can't remember Dorian having to make a single save in the first half.
Highlights of the first half:
Good tackle from Kevin to win the ball on the edge of the area, set up Gary for a run and shot that went wide/over
Scott being let through on goal after a mistake from their defender, getting caught in two minds as the keeper came out and then being denied a shot by a last ditch tackle from the recovering defender.
Scott and Gary going close with shots just missing the target.
Nathan having a go from just inside the area but the keeper was able to save it relatively comfortably.
At the other end, Dorian having a moment when tried to return a back pass to Simon across his own goal and it got intercepted by an attacker who fortunately was not able to control it and the ball went out for a goal kick.
Throughout the half, we put the effort in and we defended very well, but were lacking movement going forwards and the quality of our passing at times wasn't enough to get the ball to our front men.
Clean half though and after a peculiarly subdued half time interval, we came out and seemed to start the second half a bit better. Didn't do much good though as we conceded very early on. We didn't clear our lines from a throw in and they had a shot which seemed to rebound off a combination of Dorian and the post into the air around the edge of the six yard box. Their attacker was first to with a scuffed toe poke and it just crept into the bottom corner.
We hadn't really gotten started but we did step it up and after a couple of substitutions, we at last began to apply some sustained pressure. The breakthrough came when Gary - on one of his frequent runs where he tried to take on half the opposition - managed to work his way into a shooting position and put it home from an angle.
We looked more likely to score the next goal then and had an almighty scramble after one corner when it seemed inevitable that the ball would go in but somehow it didn't. We were then left to rue missed chances when we gave away a free kick on the edge of our area and the subsequent shot went in despite Dorian's best efforts.
Showed good commitment and defended well as a team, but the old spectre of not taking our chances when presented came back to haunt us. We need to get that out of our system fast, starting from next week.
