colombolions.com

[Taimour]

Twenty minutes after the final whistle Colombo Lions manager Keith 'Keke' Mullan was still mired in a polluted swamp adjacent to the pitch, trying in vain to retrieve the yellow match ball. Wielding an unmanageably long pole, which he was presumably using to reach out into the murky depths, the former international Fell runner had managed to attract the help of half the Sri Lankan opposition. But with the sun swiftly setting over the National Football Training Centre, the burly Neil Redfearn lookalike was forced to give up the ghost. He'd have to buy a replacement.



It serves as a fitting metaphor for the Lion's record in recent weeks: full of good intentions, effort, belief, teamwork and not a little ingenuity (a nod to Keke's 10 foot pole here…), but ultimately as matches have worn on, we have found ourselves lost in the footballing swamp and facing defeat.

Saturday was no different. And on a day when the temperature plummeted to a frosty 29 degrees centigrade, we couldn't even use the heat as an excuse. Having started brightly (as usual), the Lions squandered a couple of half chances (as usual) before stopping for breath and conceding a goal (as u…ok, you get the picture). Sanga had returned from holiday on heroic form but even he could do nothing when the opposition striker evaded the offside trap and stroked the ball home. But the Lions came roaring back and fully deserved their equalizer. On loan striker James, straight off the plane from Delhi, raced down the right side, shaped to cross and fooled everyone by expertly arrowing the ball into the top corner of the net. Ronaldinho or Paul Konchesky? Either way, the Lions were level and sensing that elusive win. After half-time, we gradually switched to our traditional 4-0-6 formation, missed a host of gilt-edged oportunities and the Sri Lankans took full advantage of the space provided by bagging two well worked goals (actually, a heat induced delirium means I can't remember what they were like, but we can assume….).

Another defeat and another lost opportunity for a win. It may be a long rainy season.



My man of the match: Carsten
Oppo Man of the match: Me!
Pick of the Sri Lankans: their long haired, infuriatingly good striker who I'm fairly certain played against us a couple of weeks ago for a different team. Oh well.