Lion FC Reserves vs. Shaftsbury A 23rd September 2023
First Half
On a bright and breezy at Little Stoke Park, both teams started positively but neither could find the cutting edge.
Lion’s positive football came through Mo5 in a central position and Aymen from the right, but the crosses couldn’t find the white shirts in the box. Shaftesbury were also creating chances, but Harry was unstoppable in goal despite his gloves only turning up 10 minutes before the start.
Shaftsbury’s left winger managed to get in behind Lion’s resident cyclist, Wakey, and won a free kick just in front of the corner flag. Some lazy defending from the free kick allowed the ball into the box, before a Johan Cruyff special turned the ball towards goal and the striker managed to get find space 6 yards out, firing it low and hard to make it 1-0 to Shaftesbury.
Lion played with some confidence following going into the deficit and a lovely LONG BALL from debutant James North put Aymen in behind his full back. Shaftesbury’s goalie came storming off his line and, fresh from signing a contract with the WWE that morning, took Aymen out after the ball had been knocked past him.
A confident Rehad stepped up and with the power of the smallest shin pads ever, slotted the ball calmly to the keepers’ right from 12 yards.
Lion played with some confidence for the rest of the first half passing around the back and attempting to tire out the Shaftesbury players. Playing out from the defence was a strength for a back 4 that looked like they would usually be more accustomed to scrums and mauls, whilst David Bunker was very brave playing through a dead leg suffered early in the game.
A returning Millsy was a sight to behold on the pitch as he hadn’t forgotten how to put a tackle in even saying to their right back at full time “there was a bit of weight going into that challenge.”
Kacey Who Music was holding the ball up well despite being told before the game by Mr Slade that we were struggling with striker options and that’s why he was playing there.
Both sides were happy going into the half time oranges at 1-1.
Second Half
The second half began poorly for Lion as we went behind again within minutes of the referee’s whistle. Arya, who had replaced the ill Wakey at Half Time, Mr Slade, and Harry, decided to try and tackle each other on the edge of the box while the bouncing ball found its way to their striker. A composed finish from their striker put the away side 2-1 up, despite Mr Slade’s attempt to clear the ball off the line.
Lion then piled the pressure onto Shaftesbury. Mo5 was threatening with his typical weaving runs, beating 3 or 4 players but failing to get a shot off on multiple occasions. Another long ball caused their keeper problems as he misjudged the flight and the ball, which landed at the feet of K (whose teeth made his kit look rather dirty) but K missed the open net from a very tight angle.
Mr Slade also missed a good opportunity from a corner (I’m sure he would have scored had it been club captain, Josh Armstrong, putting the ball in to such a delicious area). Lion were struggling with a few injuries by the end of the game, but this didn’t stop us pressing for the equaliser. However, we were stopped in our tracks when, with about 10 minutes to go, Shaftesbury’s striker finished beautifully from 20 yards out to make it 3-1.
Lion again pushed but Shaftesbury defended excellently to ensure they did not have to endure a nervous 5 minutes defending a 1 goal advantage.
MoM – Aymen, for assisting the penalty and causing our main attacking threat.
Loser – Jake, for telling the first team opposition vital information before the game.
by Jake Haynes
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