A fantastic team performance against a quality side earned the Lions a place in the second round of the Surrey County FA Lower Junior Cup. In a competitive game with great football being played by both sides, the Lions defended doggedly and took their chances clinically to make the long journey down to Woking worthwhile.
Line-up
Paige (GK)
Dorian (RB), Simon (CB), Phil (CB), Dale (LB)
Jon (RM), JP (CM), Lee M (CM), Kevin (LM)
Gary (CF), Scott (CF)
On a bright but chilly morning, the Lions faced a team currently third in the fourth division of the Surrey and Hants League, the leaders of which were Chilworth Rangers who knocked the Lions out in the first round of this competition last year. The home team gave notice of their attacking intent early on, with Dale required to make a timely interception down the flank to stop a forward going through on goal. From the resulting corner, Kevin took the ball out from the penalty area and found Scott along the left flank, who threaded a lovely pass to Gary, who dummied the keeper then finished low past him to give the Lions the lead within the first few minutes.
The opposition didn't seem unduly fazed by this and the game ebbed and flowed between their attacks and ours. Our back line was made to work throughout the half with Dorian getting in some important tackles to break up attacks down the wing and Simon and myself clearing high balls and chasing down their forwards. Up front Lee and Jon went on a couple of runs that gave their defence problems but ultimately failed to produce a shot on target. Gary sent an effort wide and Dale had a glancing header from a free kick saved easily enough by the keeper. Paige had to get down sharply at his near post to turn a goal bound flick shot around the post at the cost of a collision of his shoulder against said post. Happily though, he was ok to continue after a few moments of recovery
One of their forwards blasted a shot inches wide of the post and they went even closer when a forward got through on goal and beat Paige with a shot that came off the inside of the post and fizzed all the way across the goal thankfully staying the right side of the goal line for us.
For all their chances though, it was the Lions who scored next with another quaity move. Lee picked up the ball in midfield and after a little run across the pitch, he found Jon who fed the ball across the face of penalty area to Lee. He put in a cross that was met with a first time header by Scott. The keeper got a hand to this but the ball just popped into the air for Scott to head into the net from a couple of yards out.
The opposition were still edging the contest in terms of possession and attacks, but our defence was holding firm and rising (literally in some cases) to the challenge. We did give a lot of free kicks away throughout the game, but the opposition never really made Paige work hard from them. Our third goal was again on the counter, when their right winger on the touchline in our half, sold his forward short with a weak pass and I managed to intercept with a low hoof up the field. For some inexplicable reason, it managed to get all the way to the penalty area with Gary in hot pursuit and outpacing their last man to the ball. He got round the keeper and slotted it home to give us a half time lead that was in all fairness a little flattering to us.
As expected, the opposition came at us in the second half and they ran us ragged at the back with their forwards and wingers latching onto all-too accurate through balls. Their forward was through at one point and even though Paige had half stopped because we all thought he was actually offside and that the ref had blown for it, he managed to save the shot somewhat casually with his left foot and I cleared it from the guy following up. As it turned out, he wasn't offside, so it was just as well that he did save it.
The opposition dominated the second half to be honest and we didn't help our cause when Paige made a poor decision in throwing the ball out to Dale on the edge of the area and we lost possession. Paige did redeem himself by making the one-on-one save, though. He also got hands to another one-on-one shot to turn it past the post. Kyle had to make an important shot-stopping tackle as the oppositon pressed us for that first goal. We were still making chances though, with Scott having a great one when put through due to a defensive error, but in a deja vu moment from out first League game, a defender again got a sliding tackle in to deny the shot. Scott also made a smart volley on teh turn from the edge of the area but it was straight at the keeper who held on.
Inevitably, the opposition got their deserved goal when they broke through on our right flank and their guy cut inside to slide a precise shot into the far corner beyond Paige. We didn't let this get to us though and we still defended well, although we were getting knackered at the back. Richard got a great shot away that had the keeper beaten but pinged skywards off the cross bar and although it stayed in play, there was no-one to follow up. He then put a cross in that was diverted goalwards by their defender and only a great diving save by their keeper stopped a certain goal.
The killer goal arrived through another team effort when Simon got the ball clear upfield to Richard who found Scott who then squared it to Gary in acres of space in the penalty area. He slipped the ball between the keeper's legs to claim his hat-trick.
This was a real team performance, with everyone on the pitch working hard and contributing to an ultimately hugely enjoyable game. The footnote to this endeavour though, is that we have again been drawn away for our second round tie against...Woking Rangers.
