U12s Lions vs Valley Green Knights

Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Competition
9 Nov 2008	Valley Green Knights	1-3	U12s Lions	League Cup

Match report

LIONS TRIUMPH IN CUP THRILLER

Valley Green Knights u9s  1
Focus Ferrers Lions   u9s   3

The score may suggest otherwise but this remained a cup nailbiter to the last minute.A trademark sluggish start for the Lions as they failed to come to terms with the gale that was sweeping through Witham.Valley Green had early penetration and in a real muddy goalmouth scramble on 4 mins the ball somehow crossed the line past a despairing Alex,(despite calls from some for the video ref to check the replay).The boys stayed patient, and Ben B continued with his excellent form making some surging runs down the right.He combined well with Tom and Ben P on several occassions but clear cut chances were hard to find.Jamie and James were awesome at the back with both revelling in the heavy conditions.It is hard to think of a stronger defensive pairing in the division.Alex had to withstand a number of wind assisted crosses and shots  but his handling remained impeccable despite the elements.Callum was seeing plenty of the ball and after excellent work from Jack he cut in from the right and hit a low hard shot which the keeper could only parry.Tom reacted quickly but the keeper was injured as he blocked the rebound.The tempo was raised   with this attack and with Lucas introduced we saw increased pressure on the Valley goal.Ben B and Tom did superbly to break through the Green defence and when the ball span clear Lucas reacted brilliantly to slot home the equaliser.With scores level at the break the Lions had the advantage of the slope and the 40 mph winds to help them in the second half.Ben P began to break up the Valley attacks with increasing regularity, and found some intelligent passes to spread the play wide.Nathan was now on up front and some good moves with Lucas began to really stretch the opponents.An away draw seemed to be a point gained but with 8 mins left a clear handball left Callum with the chance to put the boys in front from the spot.There is never a good time to face the "rocket" but on a cold day it is a goalies nightmare.Nevertheless the Valley keeper somehow parried the piledriver and despite more calls that the ball had crossed the line the penalty went down as a save.The draw now seemed inevitable but the boys played to the end and with just 2 mins to go a great long pass from Callum saw Nathan outpace the last defender and hit a first time shot into the corner.The Valley team immediately came back but as so often the guard was down and Callum gained revenge for the penalty by cutting past 2 defenders and crashing a third into the corner on the stroke of full time.This was a difficult game for the Lions and they took a while to get going but in the end some true fighting spirit pulled them through.Well done boys.
TEAM:ALEX,JAMES,JAMIE,BEN P,BEN B,LUCAS,CALLUM,TOM,JACK,NATHAN
GOALS:LUCAS(19),NATHAN(49),CALLUM(50) The score was 3-1.