colombolions.com

[Richard Lloyd]

At last a fixture in Colombo and we couldn’t get more central…….even though it was an official away match.

Colpetty SC entertained Colombo Lions on a half decent pitch, which had everything from a waterlogged goalmouth to a goalmouth which had not seen too much rain? Maybe we’ll use this pitch for a few weeks until the Wembley of South Asia is complete, apparently sometime in April….we wish…

After a week off, the Lions kicked off (trying out a new formation, straight from the Capello book of “give it a go” tactics which paid off v Switzerland – 4-1-4-1) against a strong and experienced Colpetty team, which looked as if they played together often the way they passed the ball around early on. The opening spell did not see many chances, with most of the battles being made in the middle of the park, and the lions struggled to get any clear balls through to the lone striker. Although as the game went on, it looked more likely that the lions would score, with some good balls being played through to the wide attacking midfielders Liam and Danielli. Lions made many changes and still looked pretty confident under pressure, with the left backs seeing most of the action, against some skilful apposition attackers.

The lions had a few half chances from John, Mucky and Rich before the deadlock was broken, when some neat play between the defence and the midfield saw the ball passed to Rich from John 10yards outside the penalty box, and Rich coolly spotted the keeper off his line and floated in a neat shot from outside the box. 1 – 0 Lions!

The game got a little tighter from that moment on but the Lions hung on for a 1 – 0 half time lead.

2nd half and much more of the same, both teams passing the ball around well and the occasional attack resulting in good defensive clearances and domination, keeping the game very tight. At this point the game could have gone either way with both teams missing some chances, best of which fell to the Colpetty forwards who squandered a great chance for the equalizer, with about 20mins left. As the game went on the opposition got more and more frustrated and there were some hefty tackles and challenges flying about, which the ref handled very well and kept the game going.

On 78mins, the ball was played through the Lions defence where Hachim ran onto the ball, and played a cool back pass to Asanga, who did not expect the direction and the ball ran in front of the goal for an open goal for the Colpetty striker, who calmly made it 1 – 1….unlucky defensive mix up for the Lions.

The lions pushed forward for the winner, and half chances fell to Jules, Daz and Mucky before a great chance fell to Liam on 85 mins who was put through by Daz, which brought a great save out of the goalkeeper who pulled off the save of the game, with a low shot to the corner which looked to have sealed the win. And as the game was heading for a draw, another nice move from Seaman in the Lions defence, saw the ball pass through Rich, John and Danielli who danced his way around the defensive wall and set up Liam for a mirror image of his earlier chance, this time the keeper could not get to the low drive and the Lions had sneaked a win in the last minute! 2 – 1 Lions.

This was a great all round team performance against an experienced opposition, and even though regular changes were made we seamed to keep the shape and deserved the win.

MOM was shared between Seaman and Kaz for their solid centre back displays.

Team: Asanga, Jules, Seaman, Kaz, Ian, John, Rich (Capt) (1), Danielli, Laurent, Liam (1) and Mucky.
Subs: Daz, Sylvain, Ferukh, Hachim and I think I may have missed 1 player….pls remind me if I have??
MOM: Seaman and Kaz (we couldn’t split them!!)