Zion FC cruised to a 6-2 victory over rivals The G.A as they narrowly missed out on the title on goal difference alone. A Dan Shotton hat-trick, a brace for David Jones, and a fluke by Ben Short gave Zion a four goal winning margin, when they needed an unrealistic sixteen goal advantage to win the league.
The game started with Zion knowing what they needed to do. Score lots of goals. The G.A however, have never been a team to lay down and die and that proved to be the case once more as the two clashed. David Jones received a pass by Dan Shotton and then struck the ball home with his left foot to open the scoring. As the Lions poured forward gaps appeared at the back for The G.A on the brea. Steve Winter was on top form to keep out the attempts that went his way. A great team move then led to a second for Zion as Tony Dain laid the ball across goal for Dan Shotton to tap in. Jones then found Shotton who doubled his tally with a neat finish and made it 3-0 at half time.
The second half was a tighter affair with The G.A giving everything in their attempts to get back into the game. They grabbed the opening goal of the half when a player fortuitously wriggled through the defence and smashed the ball past Winter. The Zion stopper continued to show fine form in goal. Tony Dain was on particularly good form intercepting G.A plays and showing great belief and determination to break forward in search of a late title winning flury of goals. Jones passed the ball to Shotton who then smashed an unstoppable drive in at the keepers near post to grab his hat-trick. A moment Ben Short will want to forget followed, when a tame cross was diverted into the back of his own net by a rusty right footed lunge. The player called up from the reserves did however make ammends moments later when his clearance caught the G.A keeper off guard and way off his line. The ball trickled in to the amusement of the Zion fans. Jones warpped up the scoring after tapping home Tony Dain's neat pass.
Rumours around the ground focused on the absence of Manager Tommy Powell. The News Of The World were reporting that Powell was holding negotiations with Roman Abramovich about taking over from Carlo Ancelotti next season. Zion FC were quick to dispell such a rumour and they released a statement, "Thomas Powell is a fantastic manager who is totally commited to this club and we will not entertain any approach for his services. He was absent from the recent league game due to illness and any other explanation is pure speculation." David Jones was upbeat about his sides season despite falling short on goal difference, "We have played well this season as we did again today. We pushed Deer Park to the end and when a season comes down to goal difference you know there isn't much between the sides. Next season we'll come back fighting and hopefully we'll pip them to it." Man of the match Tony Dain was pleased with the performance and believes the side can take great confidence from their nearly faultless season, "We lost one game all season, as did the champions. I don't think I've known a ten game season when a side has lost just one game and not won the league. We can go into the new season with confidence knowing that we are not far off them." Dan Shotton was keen to talk about the sides upcoming cup games when he spoke with BBC Radio5Live, "We are on a good run of form. Alright we didn't win the league, but we came close and can go into this cup run on Sunday with our heads held up high." Zion will be hoping to deliver some silverware when they travel to Seaford on Sunday 3rd April, and the bookies have them right up there as major contenders for the tournament.
