McMags FC's poor record against Zion FC continued on Monday night and subsequently their loss relegated them to The Championship. Zion adapted to the difficult winds with far more comfort and played some great football to win the match 8-3.
Zion FC started the match in awful fashion. Tommy Powell had been quoted in his match day programme blog as saying that "keeping it tight at the start of the game is an important part of creating a platform for dominance". However, within seconds McMags had found the net. It was a great strike from their breaking midfielder that riffled into the bottom left corner of the goal. Zion responded positively when Dan Shotton intercepted a pass brilliantly before unleashing a long range effort that caught the keeper off guard. It was then good link up between Powell and David Jones that gave Zion the lead. The former tucked the ball away with great confidence. Despite blustery conditions Zion were playing some of their best attacking football of the season. Jones pounced on the rebound of a Powell shot to make it 3-1, before defensive duo Tony Dain and Shotton broke forward. Dain played a neat pass to Shotton who gave Zion a comfortable 4-1 lead going into the break.
The wind was now in Zion's favour and their good football continued. Powell tapped the ball in after Jones' shot had caused chaos in the area. McMags players surrounded the referee when the goal was awarded as they believed the ball had hit the post and not crossed the line. However, television replays clearly show that the ball in fact hit the top corner of the net and then bounced out. Powell turned provider when two identical goals handed Dain a brace. Powell's good vision was evident as he found Dain, who tapped the ball home on both occasions. Jones was then set through by Powell and his neat finish gave Zion an 8-1 lead. This should have ended the scoring, however, with all four outfield players on for a hatrick the Zion players perhaps abandoned their professionalism and defensive discipline. It was costly as McMags managed to score two goals. It could have been more had Steve Winter not been on such good form. His saves throughout the match had kept McMags at arms length. When the whistle blew the McMags players heaped to the floor, crestfallen at their plight. Zion had sent them to the Championship in a humiliating style.
Tommy Powell reflected on the season philosophically and honestly in the post match press conference, "To be honest it was one of our worst seasons yet according to results, but we still finished third and scored more than any other team." He then assessed his teams display against McMags and predicted a bright future for his side, "Even in that wind, we looked more dangerous going forward, and we are starting to get it right at the back. I believe this to be our best starting five and I see us pushing for honours next season. I want to congratulate my players on the improvements they've made over the past two games, its their performances that have given me renewed confidence that we are a top side in this league." Dan Shotton praised his defensive partner Tony Dain with his post match comments as he presented him the man of the match champagne, "He was great tonight, his passing was quality, defensively we suffered a little when the hatricks were within our sights, but overall I felt we improved as a defensive unit. It helps having a safe pair of hands behind us as well, Steve was class tonight." Zion will take great confidence from their current form, and the Lions fans will be hoping for some silverware next term.
Premiership Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Dazeone.co.uk 7 6 1 0 28 14 14 19 2 Bike Track Cosmos 7 5 0 2 28 17 11 15 3 Zion FC 7 3 2 2 35 23 12 11 4 Embassy FC 7 3 2 2 24 21 3 11 5 Amplicon Athletic 7 2 1 4 14 18 -4 7 6 Townsend FC 7 2 1 4 27 35 -8 7 7 McMags FC 7 2 0 5 27 37 -10 6 8 Stun Gunners 7 1 1 5 13 31 -18 4
