Lions Poor Start Continues

It is now a hat-trick of 3-0 defeats for the Lions this season as a threadbare team failed to find the goal against a strong Woolpack team. After hitting the post early in the first half, we never really looked like scoring, whilst at the other end, we two conceded really poor goals in what is becoming a repetitive story.

We had a decent enough start and Ben was very unlucky to see his effort come the keeper's left-had upright in the first 10 minutes and then Rob put the follow up wide. That was as good as it got for us then and we were fortunate not to go an early goal down ourselves when Paul was rounded by their striker, who should then have buried his shot. Instead he tried some kind of sideways back flick which was cleared by Nath off the line.

After a bit of a naughty swipe at Nick Still by their right winger which prompted the first of many angry face-offs between the two sides, Woolpack went ahead through the same player. He put a cross in from the byline that if left alone would have gone pretty close to the goal line but still across the face of the goal. It most certainly would not have gone where Paul - making his long-awaited season debut - decided to put it, when he made solid contact with his right hand to bat it into the net. His excuse afterwards was that he thought it was over the bar..

Kind of deflated us a bit and we lost Nath to hamstring trouble soon afterwards. The second goal came from a free kick on our right a few yards outside the box that went in with one of their players in what we all thought was an offside position. He got nowhere neaar the ball but he did enough to put Paul off when he tried to gather the ball in and it spilled for an easy tap-in by another Woolpack player following up.

There was no way that Woolpack were two goals better than us at the break, but the scoreline only ever reflects the ones that go in, not the maybes and the near-misses. Even in the second half when we were the better team for the first part of it, we managed only one shot on target, an effort from Ben outside the box that went straight at the keeper.

Their third goal - a simple header from a left wing cross - killed the game off. The game overall had very few clear-cut chances from either team, but the recurring theme of this season so far is that our opponents are taking theirs, whereas we are not.

A week off then into County Cup action for the visit of Hanworth Sports. Fingers crossed that we can get a result out of this to help turn our season around.