Reports from the lion's mouth
Saturday Sept 22nd
First A team home game and it was against arch rivals Ocean, these games are always massive battles, The Lions as usual were unprepared and disorganised, At 1:35 the team took to the field, having no warm up, no kits, and no players, well....Danny Cox (gk), Alvin, Kev, Carlos (def), Pete, Damien, Kelvin, Chris (mid) Dwayne G (cf) Yes you counted correctly 9 players took the field, one of them being Chris Jarmon the number 2 goal keeper.
Due to unforeseen circumstances PJ, Dwayne, and O'Neal were held up and they also had the Home kit. So donning their away kit inside out as it clashed with Ocean's new kit, the Lion's 9 took the field, and Mounted the first attack with Dwayne being denied only by he crossbar, but after 10 mins of scrappy battling the Lions conceded their first goal, Ocean's corner kick being cleared only as far as the 6 yard box and the resulting drive being deflected off Carlos shoulder, Lions were down by !:0.
Reinforcements to the rescue, Dwayne and O'Neal were finally ready to join the battle, and with a full compliment of players (still playing out of position) the Lions launched their attack, Pete, darting through midfield was brought down 20 Yards out and from the resulting free kick, Kev dinked a delightful ball for Kelvin to hammer home for the equaliser.
Some staunch defending and brave goalkeeping, saw Alvin, kicked in the head, Carlos damage his ankle, and Kev leave a trail of skin on the pitch, but still Ocean broke the dead lock, another corner, another goal line clearance, and another drive from the edge of the 6 yard box saw Ocean go 2:1 up, Heads dropped but not so with Dwayne, who took on 4 of the Ocean defenders, and wrong foot the keeper to drag the Lions back into the game, and when Pete coolly finished from 10 yards, the Lions unlikely squad ended the half 3:2 up.
With P.J unable to play, the Lions motley crew regrouped and took to the field again, Leading 3:2 and determined to defend their lead, they threw themselves into every tackle, Danny Cox made some outstanding saves, and Kelvin, Damien, and Pete marshalled the midfield. The battle heightened, and after a crunching tackle Alvin had to leave the field injured, Playing with 10, the Lions saw Danny make one of his rare mistakes and was guilty of being beaten on his near post through his legs, Ocean had equalised.
The next 20 minutes is dubbed by me the injury minutes, Alvin, unable to run limped back on the field, (reminded by Kelvin that he was also injured and was playing on) Back up to 11, Chris Jarmon damaged his ankle but played on, A heavy tackle saw Dwayne have to leave the battle, He returned limping also, only for Damien to be forced off by the referee with a fractured nose.
The Lions defended wave after wave of attack, content to clear their lines and try to regroup, Damien's nose finally stopped bleeding and he was allowed back into the fray, the Lions , walking wounded watched the time tick away happy to get a draw, not so Dwayne, who collecting a ball on the left from Damien, only had two defenders to beat this time, and drilled the ball into the net to give the Lions a well battled 4:3 win.
Special mentions? the whole team battled well, but M.O.T.M to Damien, great all round game, and for playing through the pain.
Saturday Sept 15th
The beginning of it all a roaring premiership win for the first premiership game of the 2008 campaign, The first team took on Leamington away on what proved to be a sunny day. With Chris Jarmon making his debut start in a competitive game, the team consisted of Chris, PJ, Richie, Carlos, O'neal, Dwayne, Pete, Ryan, Jodi, Alvin, and Dwayne G. late arrivals meant that Danny G was relegated to the bench, along with Damali and Wes who were called up from the B team.
The Lions started strongly scoring the opening goal after 8 mins from a 20 yd drive from Dwayne G, unfortunately this lead only lasted 2 minutes as a mixup in the Lions goal area saw the ball rebound off a Leamington player and end in the net.
1:1. Heads didn't drop and the lions were soon back in front when Jodi set up a beautiful pass for Pete to drive from 35 yards giving the Leamington keeper no chance.
2:1 Lions, again short lived joy as the Lion's defence looked shaky and after failing to deal with a routine clearance, the ball rolled through the defence and past the keeper into the back of the net.
The rest of the first half continued in this manner, with both teams battling and then slipping up, In the 30th minute, the Leamington was struck by a thunderbolt clearance and knocked unconscious, Concerns were high until he came around but had to sit out the game for 10 minutes, with no subs, Leamington battled on with 10 player and although their captain returned with 5 minutes to go, they ended the half with the score on 3:3.
Realising that their player/captain was in no fit state to continue, Leamington commenced the game with 10 players,, The Lions redressed their weaknesses from the first half, and the defence became a tower of strength, Having substituted Ryan for Danny G, cross after cross, was placed into the penalty box, and after a second change, Dwayne exited and Damali continued to dominate the midfield with Pete and Jodi. The defence and midfield charged down every lose ball, blocked every shot, and with 15 minutes to go the score was 5:3 to the Lions. Keepers were substituted, Wesley coming on in place of Chris, and the game continued in the same vein, Lions eventually winning out 7:4.
Goals from Dwayne (4), Danny, O'neal, and Pete, with great assist from Jodi, Danny G, and Damali. Special mention to Dwayne Gibson who scored 4 goals, Richie and PJ, for outstanding defending and Danny G for superb pinpoint crosses, but the M.O.T.M goes to Peter Ansell for his all round performance.
Well done lions.
Saturday June 30th
The London Lionhearts started the season off in fine style today in the Hope Teman cup competition at Dulwich Hamlets. Although it was a 7-a-side competition, both the lions A and B teams entered their full 11-a-side squads, using rolling substitutes.
The annual competition consisted of 15 challengers from inner and greater London, and was set in two stages, divided into three groups, stage 1 was a round robbing format, with the winners and runners up from each group automatically going through with the two best losers over all.
Although Lions B got the tougher draw over all, they made easy work of their qualification, winning their first three games comfortably before stumbling in their final group game to be placed 2nd in the group. Lions A were placed in the group with two of the three best teams of the tournament, (one of them being themselves), They shakily won their first game before settling into that calm routine of theirs, their defence was solid keeping clean sheets through out the group stages, and having their goal keeper rarely called upon to make any saves. BUT as is so often the case with the A team, they stumbled in their last game only earning a nil/nil draw with their closest Rivals.
The Knock-Out.
With both teams through to the knock out stages, and quarter finals beckoning the Lions rallied round and gave support to each other. The B team made short work of their quarter final opponents, winning 4 : 1. Lions A, in similar fashion despatched their opponents with a 3 : 0 victory. Again the B team made short work of their semi-final opponents, and cruised into the final looking favourites. The A team on the other hand decided to do things the hard way.
There should have been warning bells when we realised that the semi-final was against the team that we only managed to draw with. and alarms should have gone off when after 14 seconds, their striker had a clear 1 on 1 opportunity, shooting into the side netting. 10 seconds later a second 1 on 1 arose, this time the keeper dove to his right and parried the ball away, three more similar attempts saw the ball finally reach the back of the net, The Lions A had conceded their first and only goal of the tournament, but it seemed to be the goal that would end all of their hopes. With 30 second left in normal time, Dwayne Gibson showed the true Lion spirit, "never give up" from 20 yards out, from an impossible angle, Dwayne fired a rocket past their keeper which set the whole tournament alight. Full time came with scores locked on 1:1, extra time came and went with each player anxious not to make a mistake. Penalties, first three players, then next three, then sudden death. 13 perfect penalties later, the competition saw its first all Lions final.
The Winners:
The real winners on that day was football, the final as were all the games was a hard contest played in the spirit of football, the organisers did a great job, and everyone young and old enjoyed themselves.
Special mentions, Lions B team: Stefan and Wesley who both had outstanding games, and Victor who has a phenomenal shot. Lions A:, The complete team played well, but M.O.T would have to go to Richard Haynes for organising and captaining the team.
ROARRRRRRRRR
Oh yeah!! the winners? well that's why we are the A team, we kicked their butts.