The last of the Division 2 games before the transfer of the points, goals etc to the respective 2A and 3 divisions, was only settled in the Lions favour in the last 20 or so minutes, as a trio of unanswered goals finally put daylight between us and the Reserves.
Despite currently residing one place from the foot of the Division 2 table, Surrey Wanderers Reserves were something of a bogey team for us last season after doing the double over us. This season they have been a bit poor but they did string together three consecutive wins against top half teams. This included putting a combined 7 goals past the only two sides that we have so far failed to score against - Lokomotive and the Epsom Albion first team.
Combine this with Lions coming back from a week off, our regular goalie not turning up, a barely thawed out pitch and a minimal match-day squad and the day had serious potential for seeing the Lions drop points at a crucial stage.
We started off well enough , creating a host of chances in the first twenty minutes and pinning Wanderers in their own half. Scott tested their keeper early on with a low shot on the half turn that the keeper did well to turn around the post but it was Nelson who had the majority of the efforts in that period. Every time he was through on goal though, his shot was blocked by the goalie who had an excellent game but who was undoubtedly helped by the fact that most of the shots were pretty much straight at him. We were also getting pretty frustrated by the linesman's flag going up every other time that Nelson was put through.
We were creating so many chances though, that by simple Law of Averages, one of them had to go in. An early through ball by Rob from midfield caught their defence square and Nelson finally beat the offside trap and got enough angle on his shot to beat the keeper. We should have kicked on from there, but more frustration in front of goal followed with Wanderers scrambling an effort off the line and the keeper making more decent saves.
Wanderers were also finding gaps through our midfield as they came into the game more. Our stand-in keeper (who was absolutely freezing in the shaded goal area) had to make a smart save at his near post, the result of which was given inexplicably as a goal kick by the ref despite the ball obviously crossing the line before the attacker tried to put it back across the goal.
We then showed our usual frailty at set-pieces when Wanderers' first corner was nodded in unchallenged from within the six yard box.Not sure what the goalie was doing, but that's by the bye.
We had been poor for the 15 minutes leading up to that, so it was really no more than we deserved but to our credit we responded almost immediately. A free kick from Harry on our left a few yards in from the byline, was flicked in by Rob almost on the goal line to put us back in front.Despite inviting more pressure onto ourselves, we saw that scoreline out to the interval.
Now attacking uphill (for those who have not been there, it is some slope at Effingham) and after being rock hard to begin with, the pitch was now starting to cut up badly in the centre, making passing and just staying on our feet difficult. We started as we had started the first half, making decent chances but still not finishing them off, with the keeper a magnet for every shot. The anxiety level was starting to creep up with every missed opportunity and sure enough we got punished again for our wastefulness.
From our own corner, we were caught too far up field as a clearance from the Wanderers defence right down the middle bypassed our defence and gave their player something to chase onto. It became a foot race with our keeper to the ball outside the area that the oppo player was always going to win. He knocked it past the goalie with ease then rolled the ball into an empty net.
The very real prospect of dropped points finally seemed to wake us up and we upped our work rate and quality on the ball considerably. This was typified by Nelson battling to get on the end of a long goal kick from Rob despite the close attentions of two defenders, knocking the ball and sprinting past a third then having the composure to guide a shot past the keeper into the bottom right corner.
Back in the lead again but we badly needed some distance between us and Wanderers and this arrived when Harry carried the ball right to left across the midfield and tried to put Gary in with a through ball. A defender blocked the pass and with the ball falling back to Harry, he decided to try his luck from outside the area with a lovely arcing shot that left the goalie with no chance and dipped under the bar.
Gary then pitched in to finish up the scoring when he ran in from the left onto a nice through ball from Ben sitting in the middle of the park. He took the ball neatly round the onrushing keeper and tapped it home. This gave the final scoreline a slightly more accurate feel on the basis of chances created, even if it still felt like we had to really grind out the result.
So that's Division 2 done and dusted with us ending up four points clear after matches between all 15 teams. After 10 years of Surbiton Lions being in existence, it is worth taking a moment to savour the sight of the Lions on top of a completed table, even if it's only an intermediate step towards the actual title. Whatever else happens now, we can always say that we actually won Division 2 in the 2017/2018 season.
Right, moment over...the points and stats from Div 2 will be transferred to Division 2A and we renew our campaign in that table with a home fixture against Reigate Hill Reserves. It's not going to get easier but we're on a fantastic, record-breaking run so let's keep it going.
PS, until the League do the transfer, have added a pic of the unofficial 2A table after some simple Excel work..
