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[K2]

21st May 2005 Lions vs. Mathegoda S.C.
Venue: Hindu College
Time: 5pm
Weather: Hot enough to fry eggs on my bald spot

The turnout for the match on the Wesak long weekend initially looked as if the Lions were not going to manage to put out a full team but with only a couple of minutes to go until the kick off, a veritable army arrived consisting of the Gaffer and the Toe. Walking side by side, blocking out the evening sunlight, they put the fear of God into the opposition. Pity the Ref. wasn’t fashionably late as for the second week running he did not turn up. A quick conference and Seaman was turned from an antagonist to a peacekeeper, well volunteered (by me) Ref Seaman!
Whistle went to start the match and the Mathegoda boys set a blistering pace with forays into the Lions Den from both wings but some solid defense by Mohan and a few desperate lunges by Karsten saw all of their attempts foiled until a very soft penalty was awarded by a usually hard as nails Seaman after a trip in the box of a Mathegoda attacker. Although Asanga was able to get his hand to the ensuing penalty kick, he did not get enough on it to turn it over the bar. 1- 0 to Mathegoda. This was followed by some of the best football that the Lions have ever played. Totally dominating the midfield Matthew was spraying the ball around like a fireman on steroids. Hasseen was running the right wing like he owned it and Paul and the Toe up front were doing a fantastic job of missing a hatful of opportunities to put the Lions back in the game. Finally a free kick was awarded to the Lions on the edge of the Mathegoda penalty box and with k2 distracting all of the defenders by standing on the back post, Mucky chipped sweetly to Gaffer who uncharacteristically volleyed straight to the back of the net. 1 – 1 and game on! Again the Lions dominated but now the Mathegoda front line were a bit more confident and it took some sterling defense from all of the back four to keep the score at 1-1. Still the midfield was unopposed and after a great kick out by Asanga, Martyn lobbed the ball over the defense for Mucky to run on to and with his usual aplomb Mucky slipped the ball past the keeper. 2-1 to the Lions. Some more great defending in the run up to half time allowed the Lions to go into the break 2-1 up.
The second half saw Mohan go off for Amal and Mahlon off for Chandru. A very shaky start to the second half for the Lions with some scrabbling defense and a few desperate fouls to keep the ball out of the net and the opposition players out of the penalty area. After about 15 minutes of this the lions started to settle down again and the turn of play went back in our favour. Some great ball play put the strikers in goal scoring positions but alas, the final touch was not there to secure the goal needed to give the Lions the cushion that they deserved. Then with about 15 minutes to go Mucky was brought down in the box for an obvious penalty but due to his previous many calls for free kicks the stalwart Seaman refused the claim. In classic Mucky style, he screamed, spat the dummy and kicked the ball away. The only reason he was not yellow or red carded was the fact that the ref did not have any so Matthew braved the tirade to send him off to be replaced with a late showing Anil, much to the satisfaction of the opposition. The play continued with a now fired up Mathegoda team throwing everything at the Lions. It was during this period of the game that Don(aldinho) Spivey earned his man of the match with some fantastic covering runs to keep the opposition out of the penalty area. Great defense and more missed opportunities saw the game come to an end with a deserved win by the Lions. Great game and a great result, congratulations to all of the players. Special mentions to Seaman for a job well done, Mohan for a great first half and Don for his MOM award winning performance.
K2 (Emergency Captain)