Locksheath Lions 3-2 Chandlers Ford Youth
Mid Solent Under 15 B – 28th February 2009
Line up: Kelvin Bagot, Jake Beattie, Michael Sawbridge (c), David Smith, David Kilcoyne, David Bromhead, Tom Ashton, Ahmed Sfagsi, Zak Pickett, Michael Wall, Jozef Montigue.
Subs: Josh Harrigan, Ryan Chinn, Miles Hodge, Liam Godfrey.
The title race has been thrown wide open after long time leaders Chandlers Ford Youth suffered back to back league defeats, missing out on the opportunity to go seven points clear of today's opponents Locksheath Lions.
Chandlers Ford got off to a poor start as the hosts took an early lead through a 25-yard shot that slipped through Kelvin's legs.
Richard's men responded very well and forced an equaliser through leading scorer Michael Wall. It was his 18th goal in 18 appearances this season to keep up his goal per game strike rate. A long throw on from the right by Josh Harrigan saw Zak Pickett stand his ground well to cause mayhem in the Lions penalty area allowing the ball to drop kindly for Wall who reacted instinctively with a super finish to lob the keeper and draw CFY level.
Last week's man of the match Michael Sawbridge was again a rock in the centre of defence and it was the towering defender who came closest to building on this as Chandlers Ford stepped up their game in search of taking the lead. Michael's long distance free kick from the half way line was hit sweetly and was heading for a goal only for the ball to be pushed up and onto the cross bar by the Lions keeper. Ryan Chinn pounced on the rebound but could only fire against the woodwork from 6 yards out with a powerfully struck volley.
Wall came close to adding to his tally following good build up play from strike partner Jozef Montigue who closed down well, defending from the front, before lifting a good ball through to his left for Michael whose shot was kept out.
Tom Ashton also forced a decent save out of the keeper with a fine attempt from range that had to be pushed away for a corner.
At the half time break the scores were level despite Chandlers Ford edging a closely fought contest.
HALF TIME: Locksheath Lions 1-1 CFY
Ford began the second half very brightly and were soon in control with an overwhelming spell of dominance and one-way traffic on the Lions goal.
The pressure paid off when Michael Sawbridge's lofted cross/shot was curled into the top corner of goal from a tight angle on the far side. Despite a flag up for offside, the referee overruled the Locksheath linesman and awarded the goal.
Josh Harrigan came close as he strode forward from defence and hit a speculative effort that was just an inch too high and this was only the start of what was to come as Ford took charge.
Corner kicks followed one after the other with Ford piling on the pressure and forcing save after save out of the excellent Locksheath goalkeeper who was in truly inspired form.
Ashton and Wall were denied more than once as were a number of Chandlers Ford players in this excellent spell but somehow they couldn't find a way through to get that all important third goal.
The game turned for the worse as CFY were made to pay for not taking their chances and killing the game off in a performance that saw Locksheath on the back foot for so long.
In the final ten minutes it all changed as Ford defended a free kick poorly failing to get out quickly enough and playing four men onside, allowing for a simple finish past Kelvin to square things up and undo all of the hard work in an instant.
It could not have got any worse for the Blues who watched their lead and dominant position in the game diminish into nothing when Locksheath, buoyed by their equaliser which ironically was their first attempt on goal in the half, forced a late free kick and scored again to steal all three points with the last kick of the game.
The defeat was very hard to take having played so well and creating enough chances to win three games let alone one, but the most disappointing fact is the league table which doesn't lie. Following the win, Locksheath are now just one point behind CFY with a game in hand, as are East Lodge who also won with a convincing 6-2 victory over Warsash Wasps. We have it all to do now to ensure we play as well as we can to pick up the points and get back to winning again as soon as possible. It is now out of our hands as we are relying on other results going for us, but the title race is still far from over! Let's come back stronger from this, it is still there for the taking.
FULL TIME: Locksheath Lions 3-2 CFY
Man of the match: Tom Ashton
Video footage and photos by Miles Hodge
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