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Hachioji Park, Saturday 31st January
Trying to break the habit of writing reports only when we don’t lose, but the match against the Hibs on Saturday night is worth reporting.
The Hachioji Park pitch was quite drenched, however the game was much more interesting than expected.
Hibs had only 11 players, whilst Lions had 12, despite missing 14 first team players!
Lions were depleted but a forfeit was no option, and Lions marched out to try and keep the league interesting for others.
Orlando was on painkillers, and Hussein (me) is still nursing a knee op, and after 5 minutes, Arcadia pulled a hamstring and was off.
Lions’ playmaker Abu was playing as a left wingback, and the young lad started brightly, frustrating the Hibs, but a late challenge on him after 15 minutes saw Abu hardly able to walk, but credit to him, with no subs available, he held on for the remaining 1 hour or so!
Ahmed had to then play as a left wing back, and the young striker was a rock!
Lions had 2 midfielders and 8 strikers on the pitch....so King Kev’s (Keegan) motto of ‘we can concede, but we will try and score more than we concede’ was the game plan.
Hibs controlled the midfield, but once the ball neared the Hibs goal area....they were pressured....especially that Lions operated a 3-1-6 formation!
As Lions were holding Hibs ransom on the top right corner of the pitch...a few desperate shouts from their defenders were aimed at Eduardo, asking for more movement. Eduardo threatened to walk off.....and he almost did (but not at his own will) when he lashed out at Marco, luckily given a yellow card.
Hibs kept plucking away and a few dangerous moments were cleared by the Lions defence and Orlando.
A counter attack saw Hibs’ tall striker through from 40 yards out and as Lions raced, and Orlando rushed out, he finished superbly to put Hibs in front on 30 minutes.
The first half finished 1-0, and right after the restart, a dangerous shot from Hibs bounced off the post and into safety. Hibs started winning a few free-kicks around the area, and they tried shooting, chipping, and even layoffs, but Lions kept defending well with Charles being fantastic throughout the game.
Lions guest player ‘Genki’ was brilliant, and a great run on the right saw him brought down by Josh, who was also lucky to get away with a booking. Almost 30 yards out, but Genki’s scorcher was hit straight at Hitoshi who could only parry the ball, that fell nicely to Walter, who slotted home the equaliser with 10 minutes gone into the 2nd half.
A great through ball was met well by Orlando, but the rushing Eduardo tumbled over, with all Hibs players calling for a penalty...only for the excellent ref to wave it away...and the lucky Eduardo getting away with diving.
Abu suddenly resurfaced in the game when a 20 yard run saw him unleash a low shot to the right of Hitoshi, who dived well to safely push the ball out to a corner.
A nicely played one-two, saw a Hibs striker in on goal, but as Hussein came between the striker and the ball...the striker went to ground....asking for a penalty....but credit to probably one of the best referees in the league....he rightfully waved their claims away.....On another day...a penalty could have been given accompanied by a red card!
Over Two-thirds of the game gone at 1-1...(wished it ended then!)....but as a cross court ball was perfectly dummied by Andre Pinto....it fell to the man of the hour, Eduardo...who found himself for the first time yards away from his marker (Marco)....and he finished in style to put Hibs 2-1 ahead with little over 15 minutes to go.
Marco tried hard, and a magnificent all the way run from left back and into the box, past a few Hibs players, could only be stopped by the bulldozer Hitoshi.
Abu again appeared, as he tricked his way through into the box, only to be denied by Hitoshi once more.
Abu then could not even walk a few steps and remained almost still till the final whistle.
Hibs pushed, and as a seemed to be long ball stalled in a puddle, it gave the Hibs striker a perfect opportunity to get to the ball before Orlando to slot the 3rd with 5 minutes to go.
A rare mistake by Lions on the left saw the Hibs break into the box, and as Orlando rushed out, the striker squared the ball to an unmarked Eduardo (or Andre...cant remember, but I should’ve been marking him!) to make it 4-1.
The final whistle came, and despite losing, Lions congratulated each other on a great performance with only 7 fit players on the pitch against the top Div 1 team.
Hopefully next season Lions will get their own back with a fully fit team.
Report by Hussein Shehata
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