Youth Football: Eaton Bray Lions

Posted on March 9, 2009

EB Lions U9 Reds - 2
Crawley Green Lions - 3

Lions created most of the chances, but Crawley Green, against the run of play, scored the first goal from an intercepted throw-in during this league cup final.

The second half continued with George Oliver and Jack Nevitt controlling the midfield and distributing the ball well to help strikers Dax Roe and Jack Quigley.

But with a well disciplined defence it was hard to find the opening that was needed.

Then Roe laid the ball off to Oliver who took his chance well to score a great goal.

EB Lions' defence of Findlay Christie and Tom Barbato were under a lot of pressure from Crawley Green who pushed forward whenever they could. As the minutes ticked away it looked as if the match was going to extra time and it did.

Crawley Green had three subs and used them, but EB Lions were down to only seven players who were eligible to play and had to play the whole match without a break. Extra time was ten minutes each way and four minutes into the start Crawley found a way through and went into the lead. Then Quigley headed Lions back on level terms.

With penalties looming, both sides were trying to find one last goal to settle the match.

In goal Toby Higgs pulled off some great saves, but with only two minutes to go Crawley scored to secure victory.

Team: Roe, Quigley, Christie, Oliver, Nevitt, Higgs, Barbato.

EB Lions U9 Reds - 5
Luton Borough Dragons Whites - 1

Manager Kev Roe would like to thank the manager, players and parents of Luton Borough Dragons Whites for playing an after school match to help with the fixture backlog that occurred due to the recent poor weather.

The Lions started strongly with Dax Roe scoring in the first minute and George Oliver getting the number two in the third minute, five minutes later with only seven minutes gone Roe got his second. The Dragons then settled down and at half time the score was 3-0 to the Lions. The second half started with the Lions again having more opportunities to go further ahead but it was the Dragons who scored the next goal which then gave the Lions the boost to push forward and after two minutes Roe scored a well taken goal to complete a great hat trick.

With the Lions keeping the pressure on, again it was Roe who scored from the edge of the box with a strong shot across the keeper. With some good combination play between Quigley, Oliver and Nevitt the Lions looked a well balanced side. In defence Barbato, Christie, Luff and Di Meo looked solid and coped well anything that came their way. Higgs in goal, distributed well the ball and made some good saves.

Team: Roe, Quigley, Christie, Oliver, Nevitt, Higgs, Luff, Barbato, Di Meo.

Toddington U11 - 8
EB Lions U11 - 1

Lions crumbled to a disappointing loss in Sunday's league fixture, during a match which they were unable to break into for the most part. Strong defensive work from James Pratt, Adam Bradley, Aarin Johnson and MoM Chris McGee was insufficient to counter the neater passing and resolute strikes of the host side, who netted three times before the break.

There was the occasional riposte from the Lions, when Sean Woodhouse, Charlie Nevitt and Mason Ashby were able to poke openings in the Toddington defence, but it would take a solid shot from Dominic Ryan to finally bring about the visitors' loan goal.

Going into the second half with the wind behind them, Lions must have fancied their chances of a more enterprising 25 minutes, but with Toddington seemingly on a roll the visitors were unable to establish any kind of dominance. Some nice saves from Dan Kennell and some eyecatching plays by Tom Horner, Will Juster, Alex Poynter, Aaron Gauntlets and Will Petherbridge weren't quite enough to shift the balance, and Lions suffered their heaviest defeat in several months.

Source: EB Lions