The original match report got deleted as Brett unwisely edited it at the same time as me (unwisely because he shouldn't be editing it at all!) so here it is again.
A convincing win for the Lions in the big Surbiton derby, completing the double over their neighbours on a boggy but playable Kingston pitch.
Line up was:
Phil (GK)
Mike H (RM), Danny (CB), Simon (CB), Gary (LB)
Brett (CM), Mark (CM), Mike G (CM)
Kyle (RF), Lee (CF), Jon (LF)
We started off strongly and played most of the first 20 minutes in their half. Our passing was crisp and we were winning challenges on the deck and in the air to keep them pinned back. What we didn't do however was make their keeper work. Most of our efforts in the first half were optimistic shots from 20-30 yards that flew over the bar.
As the half wore on, Dynamos started making inroads into our half but to no great effect, partly down to great defending on our part and poor passing on theirs.
They did give us a scare though, when their main big forward got onto a rare through ball and got round me on the edge of the area.He sent the ball bobbling towards the goal but Danny got back brilliantly to clear off the line. It only went as far as their forward and he squared it for his mate to tap in, but Mike H nipped in to take it off his toe and we cleared it from there
We were still dominating the game but apart from Brett coming close with a point blank shot straight at the keeper, we were struggling to get shots in on target until Gary came up with another gem. He started from the far left side and worked his way across the front of the penalty area, exchanging passes with Brett en route. After weaving past a couple more defenders. Gary then stopped and sent a shot arcing over the keeper into the net. It was just what we needed coming a few minutes before half time. Given the amount of possession and chances, it would have been disheartening not to have something to show for it.
We started the second half as did the first, but this time we got the goal early. Gary put in a cross/shot which was only beaten away as far as Brett who did well to adjust his body to volley past the keeper.
We maybe slacked off a little and a few players perhaps tried to take on too many players looking for goals and coming unstuck. We could have had another goal before getting caught from a set-piece. A free kick was given on our left side and the ball in wasn't cleared away. It ended up falling to their big forward who poked it home from close range.
Suddenly their tails were up, but credit to the Lions, our response was pretty much instant. Their left-sided corner was headed away and picked up by Jon who carried it forward a long way before finding Lee on the left with a lovely reverse pass. Lee shot early lobbing the keeper much as Gary had done to make it 3-1.
After that, it was pretty much one-way traffic as their defence started to lose their shape. Our fourth came from Brett playing a through ball to Lee who this time rolled it past the keeper. The fifth goal came from a forward run by Mike who laid it off to Brett to finish in the far corner.
We could have had many more as we got more shots on target but their keeper pulled off some good saves to keep the score half respectable for Dynamos. It's a testament to the Lion's performance that the oppo had only the aforementioned shots in the whole game (I only took 1 goal kick off the ground!). The defence and midfield were excellent in nullifying any threat and the forwards gave their defence a really hard time.
This win moves us up to 20 points and second behind Woolpack who had a walkover today. They and Esher remain the teams to beat but when we play like this, we have no reason to fear anyone.
