Report

Boyne Hill Lions vs Wexham United, 26/2/12

Blue skies and spring sunshine heralded the visit of Wexham United to the Ellington Arena.

This was our first game in the new Division 2.2 that will run until the end of this season. The coming weeks will see matches against Burnham Whites, New Windsor Blacks, Slough Rebels and the Golden Eagles.

The only surprise this week was that "Tiddles" was not in attendance - "Pep" Allcock had honed his feline management skills, but alas they were not required!

The Lions started slowly and looked nervous in the early stages of the game, which was predominantly fought out in a packed midfield. Curtis was proving to be an effective outlet for Josh in possession and Simran also saw a reasonable amount of ball in the early stages on the right wing. It was Wexham who had the first effort on goal with Ali making a great save with his legs but Wexham`s early pressure paid off and they scored the first goal. They picked up a loose Lions ball in the middle of the park, which was passed to their striker, and after a uncharacteristic mistake in the Lions defence, finished coolly past Ali.

The boys looked stunned and then kicked off again in search of the equalizer. The midfield continued to be the battleground, with possession swapping between teams on a regular basis. Simran and Curtis continued to see the ball in wide positions, with Harry being the outlet up front but being marshalled well by the United defence. The equalising goal came from a penetrating Luke corner on the left, that was met by a fantastic back heel shot from Josh. The Lions were back in the game and the relief on the pitch was evident, 1-1!

Anass and Lucas had to be sharp in defence to repel the United attack on a couple of occasions, though Ali wasn't troubled and the football was beginning to flow from the Lions building from the back. The second Lions goal came just before half time with a typical left-foot finish by Simran, with Anass providing the assist from his advanced defensive berth, 2-1. Jamie, Thomas and Cameron were introduced for the final minutes of the first half and settled well, making good contributions to the game.

The second half kicked off with the same players who had finished the first. Thomas was seeing plenty of the ball on the left and was linking nicely with Josh, who was continuing to be effective in the middle of the park. Soon Josh scored the third goal with a neat close range finish at the near post, following a menacing free kick by Luke just outside the area, 3-1.

The Lions were now in full flow and playing with confidence. Luke scored the fourth goal, direct from his free kick on the left of the box - a low powerful shot that eluded the United wall. By this time Wexham had lost one of their best players to an injury which compounded the fact that they started to tire a little. Cameron was linking up well with the Lions midfield and providing effective direct runs at the United defence. Simran scored a great 5th goal with an unstoppable left footer from outside the box , following a through ball from Josh, 5-1.

Josh replaced Anass in defence for the final few minutes of the game so Anass could play up top, with Cameron moving into central midfield and Harry playing on the right. It was good to see the boys playing simple, passing football and such a move resulted in the sixth goal, where Lucas finished well past the keeper after a ball to feet in the box from Simran. Another similar move involving even more passes nearly provided a second goal for Lucas but the United defence held up well. Harry had a great chance to finish the goal-scoring for the day when finding space on the edge of the box and clipped the bar with a Van Persie-like shot.

Josh received today's Man of the Match award for a fantastic performance in central midfield. Overall it was a great team effort with all the boys contributing to a very enjoyable game. 6-1, well done Lions!!