The Lions booked their passage to the second round of the Surrey County Cup with another convincing win. Another brace from Scott and goals from Nathan and Lee capped off an excellent team performance.
Line-up:
Paige (GK)
Jamie (RB), Simon (CB), Sam (CB), Ollie (LB)
Nathan (RM), Lee (CM), Rich (CM), Kieran (LM)
Scott (CF), Gregg (CF)
We stuck with the 4-4-2 formation that served us so well last week and we created a whole host of good chances in the first half. We had plenty of shots on goal and most were actually on target, just straight at the keeper. When the keeper was beaten, both Gregg and Scott had efforts cleared off the line. We dominated midfield thanks to Rich and Lee and our back four didn’t give the Knights any clear shooting opportunities whatsoever in the first half. We didn’t help ourselves with a couple of wayward passes from the back but the Knights couldn’t profit from them.
For all our possession and domination of the game, though, the first goal owed more to the luck than outstanding play. Nathan fed a ball through to Scott who took a low early shot from outside the area. It was straight at the keeper but for the second week running, we saw the ball squirm its way through hands and legs to creep over the line. We certainly deserved the goal and really should have added to it before half-time with Rich going close with volley, Sam heading over from a corner and Gregg losing out in a couple of one-on-ones with the keeper.
We were playing well though, so we came out in the second half as we’d finished the first. The oppo were stoked up though and they were definitely forcing the pace after the interval. Paige was having a lot more to do and he did well to deny their player one-on-one. We needed another goal and we got it when Scott fired a shot in from the left that the keeper could only palm out to the onrushing Nathan, who stopped low to head the ball into the empty net.
The two-goal cushion lasted only a couple of minutes – some frantic tackling outside our area saw Si come away with the ball but unfortunately dribbling it towards our own goal. He got robbed of it and Paige got lobbed to peg us back to one.
It was their only shot on target of note though and Paige’s handling was a lot more secure than his opposite number. At the other end, Gregg found himself one-on-one 3 times with the goalie, but was denied each time and it wasn’t to be his day in front of goal. Up popped Lee then who’d already had a sighter in the first half that the keeper did well to save. He latched onto a pass in the middle from Scott, skilfully worked his way round a couple of challenges to the left and steered a low shot into the far corner.
The best move of the game saw us get a deserved fourth. Jake started it on the right, getting to a 50/50 ball, keeping possession and moving it on to Rich in the middle. He moved it out wide left to Gary who cut then made it to the byline where he squared it for Scott to tap in for his second.
It should have been more, but the result and confidence boost it’s given us is more than enough. There is a break in the schedule next week, so we just need to make sure that we carry this momentum forward to our next match.
