Lion FC travelled to Hambrook this weekend as the two tightest defences in the league faced off on a bright, mild, Spring afternoon.
Hambrook started the day just 3 points behind Lion, with both teams hoping for a win to enhance their promotion credentials.
Lion arguably started the brighter of the two teams, moving the ball well across the back four and into midfield, with Mohamed Rabia proving an early attacking threat down Lion’s right flank. Just 10 minutes into the game, however, the Lion right back, David Bunker, was forced off through injury after a late challenge.
As Lion FC readjusted, Hambrook enjoyed a period of pressure, testing the Lion back four with a series of long diagonal passes and balls over the top. One such pass did bring short-lived success for Hambrook, with an attack down the right flank resulting in a goal, that was quickly ruled offside by the referee.
After competing well with multiple ariel challenges, Lion FC grew into the game with a sustained period of pressure in the last 20 minutes of the first half. When Jace won the ball back deep in the opposition half, Maté looked to play in Mo Rabia, but sharp work form the Hambrook keeper, who was quick off his line the whole afternoon, denied Mo a clear chance.
Lion continued to press for the opener, with perhaps the best chance arising from a corner. After the ball was delivered, Maté found himself with space in the box and released a left foot shot guided towards the far corner. The Hambrook keeper scrambled down to his left to save only for the rebound to fall to Callum Slade, who, despite recently rekindling his goalscoring form, was unable to find power in the strike. Slade later claimed he didn’t have a sufficient ‘run up’ to strike the ball more firmly.
The first half ended 0-0 with Lion probably edging the contest thanks to greater possession and more attacking threat. The holding midfield pairing of Ryan Robinson and Mahamadou Sumareh were also becoming more dominant.
Second Half
Lion’s dominance grew more substantial in the second half, as a combination of Robinson and Sumareh denied the Hambrook midfield any time to settle on the ball. Using the ball well and creating space in behind the Hambrook back four, Lion FC created a series of good chances, but struggled to find that clinical edge in front of goal.
Firstly, having been played in by Rabia down the left flank, Al Moores’ effort from struck the post, much to the Hambrook keeper’s relief. Moments later a contender for goal of the season was denied. After Rabia carved his way through the Hambrook midfield, he found Robinson, whose deft through ball to Jace led to a one-on-one. As the ball bobbled upwards, Jace was able to lift the ball over the Hambrook keeper, but the shot lacked the pace and direction to break the deadlock.
The chances continued to flow, with Sumareh blasting over from close range, Maté aiming a promising header directly at the Hambrook keeper, and Slade failing to connect at the back post from a Lion corner. As Hambrook struggled to contain Lion’s midfield runners, freekicks abounded, but sadly Lion failed to test the keeper with the resulting efforts.
As Lion FC continued to press Hambrook threatened on the counter-attack, drawing two excellent saves from the Lion keeper, Ross Jones. One save was particularly noteworthy. As Hambrook found space in behind Lion FC’s left back, the Hambrook winger struck the ball well towards goal only for Jones to tip the ball over the bar.
Whilst Hambrook aimed to nick the game at one end, Lion thought they had found a winner deep into the second half. When Mo Rabia found space after one of his trademark mazy runs, his left foot shot from the edge of the box was smartly saved by the keeper, driving towards his bottom left post. The rebound fell to substitute, Aymen Iahouasnia, who rifled home from an acute angle. The euphoric celebrations of Lion’s players and travelling support were cut short, however, as the referee surprisingly awarded a free kick to Hambrook for offside. The fact that the Hambrook linesmen with a far better view than the referee kept is flag lowered only added to the bitter after-taste for Lion.
The two tightest defences in the league faced off on a bright, mild, Spring afternoon… and the game finished 0-0. Credit to the Hambrook keeper and defence, especially the skipper, who couldn’t be faulted on their defensive performances.
Lion FC were no doubt the more disappointed of the two teams, considering the array of chances and the disallowed goal late in the game. But, with their third clean sheet in succession, an impressive midfield display, and enough chances created to win (at least) two games, there were may positives to take away from the game.
MOM: Mahamadou Sumareh for a fantastic, battling midfield display, punctuated by moments of real quality.
LOSER: Patrick McGovern. Pat thought that it was Rehad who scored the disallowed goal, not Aymen. This was odd for a couple of reasons, not least because Rehad was watching the game, dressed in attire more suited to investment banking than amateur football. To compound matters, Pat did the official team sheet, so really ought to know which names he wrote down merely two hours previously.
For full gallery of images go to https://lionfc.co.uk/hambrook-away-18-03-23
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