The Lions bounced back from their opening day defeat to register their first win of the new campaign. A goal in either half was enough to see off a Royal Oak reserves side who continued their improving form from last season.
Line up
Richard P (GK)
Adam (RB), Simon (CB), Matt (CB), Julian R (LB)
Gary (RM), JP (CM), Dale (CM), Kyle (LM)
Scott (CF), Lee M (CF)
The game started evenly enough, and it quickly became apparent that most of the threat from the O's was coming from long balls over the top, which were dealt with for the most part. They did have a few shots on target from this strategy but these were all straight at Paige, making his competitive debut in the Lions goal. We were playing decent football, using the wings to make inroads into the opponents half, but sometimes lacking in support and options in the midfield and were largely restricted to efforts around the edge of the area.
Scott had a couple of decent efforts on goal, doing his turn and shoot, but none of the Lions players managed to trouble the keeper greatly until our goal itself. The ball was worked down the left to Scott who made a run into the area and let loose a shot that the keeper could only parry across the goal. It fell to Lee following up but his first time shot hit the cross bar and spun out to Gary who finally managed to dispatch it into the net with a solid header.
We didn't make that many more chances before half time and although the opposition started putting pressure on us with a few corners towards the end, we went in another clean first half.
The second half summary is brought to you courtesy of Simon as yours truly had to disappear at the interval..
A gritty second half performance saw the Lions dig in to protect the lead. With the introduction of the big number 11 for Royal Oak at the end of the second half, a lot of our goal kicks were coming straight back at us, yet their opportunities on goal were still largely restricted to long shots and balls over the top. The Lions were however still creating some chances of their own, and in the 71st minute, good pressure on the Royal Oak goal keeper from Lee saw him fumble the ball, with Lee picking up the loose ball and teeing up Richard Butler who took his time and placed the ball past the covering defender. This largely took the wind out of Royal Oak's sails, although some late pressure from several corners finally paid off for them, with the big number 11 heading in form a corner with 8 minutes to go. This of course led to a nervy final few minutes, which the Lions thankfully saw out.
So we're off the mark for the season and congratulations to our debutants for 2011/12 as the two new Richards, Paige and Butler, do the business at both ends of the pitch to help earn the Lions their win. Also a special mention to Dorian our regular keeper from last year, who has finally got his wish to play outfield (albeit in defence). Well done to all the guys and let's see more of the same for the rest of the season.
