The Lions made it through to the 3rd round of the Cup for the second season running despite being pegged back three times by a decent Smallfield side. Considering the last time we lost a lead, we lost the game, we did well to keep going and finish up with the win.
Line-up:
Phil (GK)
Julian (RB), Simon (CB), Matt R(CB), Ollie (LB)
Richard (CM), Nathan (CM), Lee (CB)
Gregg (RF), Scott (CF), Kevin (LF)
The venue was Smallfield, not too far from Gatwick Airport which is just the other side of the M23 from the village. Long old drive down there and though the pitch was ok, behind the goal where we warming up was a ditch where most of the practice shots inevitably ended up.
Anyway, Simon was filling in on the managerial duties for JP (who will miss 4 consecutive games due to other commitments) and after a somewhat curious team talk where he said there was basically no point in doing one, we performed the obligatory minute silence for Remembrance Sunday then got down to business.
And what a start. With about a minute on the clock a loose pass from their right back across their penalty area was latched onto by Kev who kept his poise to poke the ball past the keeper. We were definitelly on top from that point and movindg the ball around nicely. They didn't actually have any real chances until their first goal. It came from a free kick that should never have been given as Julian clearly got a foot in to take the ball away. Then there was some confusion in the box when one of our guys went down just before the kick was taken. Some players looked to the ref for a foul, instead of keeping marked up and their player had a free header which ended up in the top left corner. The ref had the first of many discussions with various players but he waved away the protests.
We were dominating the game but they were getting more possession even if they weren't doing much with it. Their keeper had to make a good save from Gregg when he broke free one-on-one. We got the second minutes later when Gregg again got free down the right and put over a cross. It looked to have bounced past Kev and the opportunity seemed lost, but he hooked a superb volley back across the goal leaving the keeper no chance.
There was then a bit of silliness from myself: I was about to take a goal kick but my shoelaces were undone so I asked the ref if I could tie them up. He said yes, Matt came over to do them for me, but I stupidly put the ball down. Their striker looked to the ref, the ref said the ball is in play, the striker went for it and I picked it up. Cue an indirect free-kick and about 5 minutes of arguing. With about 8 of us on the line, and after the ref took an age to pace out 10 yards for Scott to retreat to, the shot came in from about 7 yards out and after all that I made the save and we got the ball away.
I still managed to mess up for their equaliser though when I came out for to gather a through ball into the box, spilled it and they latched onto it to score into an empty net.
So 2-2 at half time and after they interval, they came at us with their main weapon which was the ball over the top to their main striker who was good enough to turn and get a lob off which I only just managed to keep out. They were much of a threat in the opening minutes of the half, but we weathered the storm well. Scott was denied by another good save from their keeper and we had a shot cleared off the line. We though it had crossed over and the ref had to have a chat with their lino to make sure. We took the lead again when Ollie did his usual thing of running at their defence from left back but this time he managed to win a free kick (with only a slightly exaggerated arms skyward "fall"). Gregg stepped up and hit a low shot that went thorugh the wall via a deflection that wrong-footed the keeper.
And again they came back. Long ball again and despite Julian raising his flag signalling the offside, their striker got through and got the ball in the back of the net. Julian managed to argue his way into the ref's book (no mean feat since he was the linesman) but the main thing was we were all square again.
Given our recent games, our heads could have gone down, but we kept playing our football and finally got what proved to be the winner when Gregg laid off the ball to Scott on the left and this time he managed to get his shot past the keeper.
We saw out the game to make the trip to deepest Surrey worthwhile. Next up in the Cup is yet another away trip (think it's been three seasons since we had a home game in this competition) but a little closer against Castle Hill from our division at West End just past Esher. Great result after the last game's disappointment and we have now made it to the third round in consecutive seasons. Now to go at least one step further.
