From the debacle of barely fielding 6 last week to a squad in the thousands this. A welcome return for King Blue Sock and a debut for Matt and Will. With some real quality, this match had the potential to be a proper marker for our season and Div 1 credentials. But that all went out of the window early doors.
Despite being full of beans and showing plenty of energy, we managed to find ourselves staring at a 2 goal deficit. We were perhaps a little gung-ho in our play with everyone trying to burst forward at every opportunity. That said, we always felt like we-d be a threat as Lionhead were having to throw bodies in the way.
Then an embarrassing moment of madness from Parker. Taking affront at a perfectly decent tackle, he got back to his feet and properly clocked the Lionhead player. It was a shameful display and the red card was duly brandished, leaving us with a tough 45 minutes to play out.
2 became 3 before we started getting into gear again. It-s fair to say that we probably played better football with the 5 than we did when we had a full complement.
We got a goal back from a set piece - a well-placed strike from Mike-s left boot.
Lionhead restored the goal gap before what is being termed "a great pass" from Bruder allowed Trowers to poke home from a yard.
With a full 6 players, the result may well have been different, but Lionhead defended dilligently and I can only apologise to them and the league for the shameful behaviour of our player.
Trendell - made some decent stops but a poor choice of footwear left him a bit shaky on his pins. Not as assured to feet as, say, the Hobbit.
The Hobbit - relishing his first full stint as an outfielder. I can only recall one, for want of a better term, "shot", but lots of energy.
Trowers - ran a lot. Stole a goal from Bruder. Made a couple of tackles but otherwise ineffective.
Mike - normally we-d say he was a bit ball-greedy, but with Akaboo in the team, a new scale has to be adopted. A sweet left foot for our opener.
Joe - has confessed to a lack of fitness. That and attending a foam party in Dusk at the weekend. These factors may have contributed to a blustery performance.
Will - a bit ring rusty. With a few more games under his belt, could be a decent signing
Parker - a silly boy. Suffice to say that he-s probably not getting the call again.
Gillies - a bundle of energy, as you-d expect. Plenty of talking, plenty of running and tracking back. A real live-wire.
Akaboo - supposedly injured. At least, that was his reasoning for a rather sedentary performance. Still the king of holding the ball up.
Nader - didn-t get much time on the pitch, didn-t do anything wrong and didn-t do anything spectacular either.
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We had a good turn out after early injury worries for Dave and Andy, but both came through to perform admirably on the day.
The game started well for Lionhead, Kieran found space in the middle of the park, played it out to Jon on the wing and then blasted in the return from the edge of the penalty area with a great drive. We kept up the momentum and some passing on the edge of their box saw it sitting up nicely for Jon to half-volley in unmarked with the goalkeeper drawn out of position.
Then came an incident which shocked both teams as one of the LK Dons players flipped out and punched Gareth (or Steel Jaw Sissons as he-ll now be known) in the face after a good defensive tackle. All credit to Gareth for keeping his cool, and to the rest of both teams for avoiding any escalation.
LK Dons were now down to 5 and a quick break by Jon saw him draw the keeper before putting the ball across for Dave to tap in his first. He later showed how to handle 1 on 1s with the keeper with some deft side steps to take him past and slot in 2 more for his hat trick. Jon had helpfully shown Dave on several occasions what not to do as the LK Dons keeper saved several 1 on 1 shots by going to ground and getting good blocks in, keeping the score at a respectable level.
The defence did very well to keep out the Dons attacks, only a set piece and a goal keeping misjudgement ("Keepers ball!! oh..") led to Dons goals. In open play the marking was excellent and through balls were handled well by Pete in goal coming out to clear, leaving Dons with very few chances.
Overall an excellent performance by Lionhead, and we could-ve had an awful lot more if I-d had my shooting boots on. Also well done to Dons who kept their heads up and worked hard after going down to 5 men.
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