Lions' Woes In Front Of Goal Go On.

The end of the season can't seem to come soon enough for the Lions and a threadbare squad slumped to another defeat against fellow strugglers Castle Hill. We needed to win this match to have any chance of finishing off the bottom but we are now doomed to finish 8th out of 8th at the end of our second foray into the top top of the CDSFL.

The game started badly for us when a long range effort went past Paul via a deflection of Ed Mc. We held our own for the most part after that, without really threatening their goal as our attack struggled against their defence. The two Eds at the heart of our defence battled well with their hefty forward, with only the occasional flare-up but their organisation and passing from the back was cutting through us too many times..

Their second goal though, was yet another poor one for us to concede. A simple throw in from the right side of our box wasn't cleared and the ball found it's way to near the penalty spot where an attacker squeezed a shot past Paul.

A few minutes later, an awful mix up between the Eds going for a high ball resulted in an opening for a Hill player to run onto the loose ball and make it 3-0.

We rallied a bit after that and got back into wit when a delicious in-swinging corner from Nick S was met almost on the line by Rob, almost on his hands and knees to head it home. Apart from that we didn't trouble their keeper as every time we got in or around the area, we were unable to get a telling pass or shot away.

Paul made a number of good one-on-one stops throughout the match and at only 3-1 down at the break we still felt that we were well in it. The second half was more of the same, though. We defended better and it felt that the balance of play was much more even, but I don't think we registered a single effort on target. We were just getting crowded out as soon as the ball was anywhere near their area.

Paul was still keeping us in it with some fine stops, including one low to his left, but a collision between the returning Mussa in the area with their centre forward was deemed to be a penalty by the ref. Paul could do nothing against the spot-kick and despite keeping it somewhat respectable, in the end it was the latest in a long line of losses for the Lions.

No doubt about it, this season's been tough, losing key players from last season either through injury and resignations. It may be an old cliche but it's true: the league table doesn't lie and our stats for the season make for excruciating reading. We have two games remaining to if not salvage our pride then at least to enjoy our football. We are capable of so much more than what this season has brought upon us, so let's end it with two solid performances.