The Lions needed the gift of two late own-goals from an unfortunate Mavericks team to keep our title ambitions on track. We probably just about edged the game, but it was hard not to feel sympathy for Mavericks as they put the ball in their own net twice in a matter of minutes.
Line-up:
Dorian (GK)
Julian (RB), Matt R (CB), Simon (CB), Ollie (LB)
Lee (CM), JP (CM), Richard (CM)
Kris (RF), SCott (CF), Gary (LF)
The morning didn't start too well with some people having trouble finding the ground (our fourth "home" pitch of the season), others needing last minute lifts after spending the night in hospital getting broken noses put back into shape and one of the goal nets being put up without any pegs. Maybe it was all a hangover from last week's Cup misery, but the first half was a less than stellar performance and we would have been punished severely were it not for the Mavericks own lack of any real goal threat. Dorian had only one save to make in the whole game, pushing away a flicked on free kick. The oppo had plenty of shots but mostly from outside the area and invariably wide or high. That said, we gave the ball away in our own half far too often and kept inviting the oppo to come at us.
At the other end, our efforts were also missing the target, but then Rich connected with a shot that needed palming over the bar by the keeper and we suddenly seemed to be seeing more of the ball and making the better chances. It was amazing that we got to half time without conceding though and as JP said at the interval, we had been handed a real get-out-of-jail card. He hadn't seen anything yet.
The second half saw a vast improvement in the effort, if not the quality of our play. We still seemed to play ourselves into trouble at the back, but going forward, we were getting closer to the opener. Gary went on a brilliant run to the edge of the area only to see his shot cannon off the cross-bar. Their keeper needed to make a couple of good saves to deny Gary and Kris and their defence was getting stretched as they had to make block after last-ditch block. We still couldn't find a way through though and as the shots became more desperate and the final pass more wayward, we looked to be heading towards a first 0-0 in the Lions history at a time when we could least afford it.
In the last few minutes of the game, we started piling people forwards on corners and set pieces so when we got a free kick on the halfway line, we loaded their penalty area. Simon took the kick and to be honest, it wasn't the best ball in, but it caused chaos in the Mavericks' defence. The ball in was headed backwards by one defender then another one stretched out a leg as he was running towards his own goal in order to clear it from our guys trying to get on the ball. He didn't connect with it properly though, and the ball ended up rolling past the stranded keeper into the bottom corner. A bizzare goal, but it got better for us (and worse for the Mavericks) a few minutes later when Richard tried to curl one into the top corner with the outside of his boot. It was definitely going wide until the shot pinged off the head of one of the oppo's defence and ended up exactly in that top corner. Now that's a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Yes we deserved it on the balance of play and at least we can win even when we don't play well, but we really need to turn up right from the first whistle because we've more than likely used up our quota of luck for the season in this one game.
