Zion's version of Amy Winehouse's Rehab chorus surrounded Stanley Deason as the final whistle blew. "Shotton sent G.A to rehab, with his goals, goals, goals". The fans humourous adaptation of the song highlighted Shotton's great performance and The Gardeners Arms (or Gamblers Anonymous if you prefer The Lions fans variation) precarious position in the league.
Possession was always going to be difficult for Zion to retain. Their opponents press all over the pitch, especially in high areas, and so Zion as an attacking force invariably find The G.A's defence difficult to unlock. Defensively however, Zion were excelling with some great work by Tony Dain, Dan Shotton, and Steve Winter. It was Zion who opened the scoring. A short corner by Tommy Powell to Dain was shortly followed by sharp movement from David Jones. Dain brilliantly picked out the midfielder and provided him with an easy tap in. The Lions struck again, when a Jones corner was met by Dain's calm finish beating the keeper at his near post. The defensive work was the most impressive facet of Zion's play. Dain and Shotton both made fantastic tackles and crucial interceptions to deny The G.A a foothold in the game.
The 2-0 half time lead was not taken for granted by Zion who continued to work hard. Brett Joyce who came on for Powell was causing the opposition some problems, and could have extended the Zion lead on several occasions. However, it was the defensive rock Shotton who dented The G.A's slim hopes. He intercepted a pass and spotted The G.A goalkeeper well off his line. Using the outside of his left foot, he curled the ball over and round the helpless keeper. Cue the Zion fans tuneful rendition of the before mentioned Amy Winehouse number. Refereeing decisions then caused some controversy. There were some frustrated challenges going in on Zion players, that went unpunished. The worst was an ugly lunge from G.A's striker on Dain. Luckily Dain was unhurt, however, the referee chose not to brandish a card. However, it is believed the F.A will not agree with the poor decision when they look into the video evidence. A statement from the F.A read, "There will be a disciplinary panel looking into possible sanctions involving a player in the match between The G.A and Zion FC". The G.A scored to put pressure on Zion with a breakaway goal. They didn't seem to have the belief they needed to mount a serious comeback attempt, and so it proved. Dain played the ball to Shotton, who cooly placed the ball into the top left corner of the net. A late consolation couldn't prevent Zion from maintaining their healthy position at the top of the Premier League.
Manager Tommy Powell was more than happy with his sides result, "It was a great win. We always have a tough game against this lot, but we had the quality to come through this test. It's still early days, but we are looking good at the moment". Man of the match Dan Shotton was even more positive about his sides chances of winning the league, "This could be our season. We played really well tonight and handled their pressing game brilliantly". Zion will be hoping to build on this confidence boosting win and mount a serious title challenge this season. The G.A on the other hand are not in such a healthy position, and could find themselves in a tough relegation battle. As the chants from The Lion's fans suggested, their Premiership safety is certainly not something that should be gambled on after Zion's impressive victory.
