Ridiculous Begginings FC can show great pride from their battling display against Zion FC, who narrowly won the opening game of the new season 3-1. A brace from Nathan Wriglesworth and a David Jones strike guided Zion to the three points.
It was a tight affair from the start at Stanley Deason. The established Premiership contenders Zion enjoyed most of the possession, however, new boys, Ridiculous Beginnings made life difficult for their opponents with some tight marking all over the pitch. It was in the latter stages of the half that Zion took control of the game. A defensive mistake from Beginnings allowed David Jones to dribble goalwards, he then struck the ball with his left foot past the goalkeeper. Zion fans didn't have to wait too much longer for the second. Brett Joyce laid the ball to Nathan Wriglesworth who created a yard of space for a shot, and watched on as it hit the back of the net. Wriglesworth doubled his tally when Paul Muzzall's goalkick found him deep in oppositon teritory. The pacey striker shimmied past the last man and unleashed an unstopable shot into the bottom corner. The quality of football had perhaps not been upto the Lions usual standards but by half time they looked set to win the game comfortably.
At 3-0 down, Ridiculous Beginnings looked to get back in the game. They pressed forward on the counter attack on several occasions, however, Joyce and Jones were equal to their efforts on many occasions. Muzzall was also on fine form with some brilliant saves. Zion weren't as fluid as usual and passing moves were infrequent. Players weren't as comfortable receiving the ball, and as soon as the ball was in advanced positions, it seemed that Zion players became individuals rather than the normal passing team they have built their reputation on. Ridiculous Beginnings grabbed a lifeline in the match when a weak effort squirmed underneath Muzzall. The keeper was disappointed to have lost his clean sheet. He made up for the mistake with several quality saves later in the half, and the 3-1 scoreline was the fair result as Zion were superior, without being sublime.
Man Of The Match Nathan Wriglesworth was pleased to have contributed to his sides victory and predicted a good season ahead for Zion, "It's great to get on the scoresheet again. The three points was vital for us, as we wanted to get off to a good start. I believe we have a squad capable of winning the league this season, and so it's great to have started well." Manager Tommy Powell was pleased with the result, but wasn't greatly impressed with the team performance, "We got the job done, and thats a good sign. Winning ugly is something that we've not been great at, and tonight we did that which is positive. A negative was parts of our play. We didn't pass the ball well, we lacked cohesion, and composure on the ball. The side is relatively new, with fresh faces, and I guess it's just going to take time for us all to gel and be singing from the same song sheet. It's weird to be complaining about being too direct, when normally we are criticised for our over-playing, but I felt that tonight we could have "walked it into the net" as you reporters say. There were times when we could have easily played a little one-two in order to get through instead of keeping our heads down and not linking up. I think all of the outfield players were guilty of that at some stage during the match tonight. Our team ethos is to pass and move and we'll be working on bringing that back into our play during this weeks training programme." Powell will be hoping his troops can get that right before the big clash against current champions Bike Track Cosmos.
