FA CUP FIRST PRELIMINARY ROUND

LONDON LIONS 2 WEMBLEY 1

Fittingly, their opponents were none other than Wembley FC, who play in the division above Lions in the SSMFL.

Wembley showed their credentials in the opening exchanges, with some pacy and direct attacking play which seemed to be a yard quicker than Lions for the most part.

The home side received a boost 20 minutes in, when the impressive Sam Hamerton was freed by Austin Lipman’s diagonal ball. As the Lions wing back burst toward the edge of the box he was tripped by a Wembley defender, and the referee had little option but to show the red card, leaving Wembley having to play most of the game with 10 men.

However, this didn’t seem to disrupt Wembley too much, as they were still the side posing the bigger threat. They took the lead after an attack down Lions’ left was allowed to progress with a fine cross headed in past the returning David Myers in the Lions goal for 1-0.

Myers had to be alert on other occasions, and showed his footwork and speed off his line more than once.

At the other end, Adam Bolle almost got in on goal, but was flagged for offside as he rounded the keeper for a likely equaliser.

The second half saw Lions put in the improved performance they needed to turn the tie around. The passing was slicker and work rate seemed to grow with the team’s confidence.

The equaliser really gave the blues lift off; after Bolle, and Hamerton had caused danger in the Wembley box, the ball was set for the onrushing Charlie Rubin who hit a low drive into the bottom corner to level the scores.

Twelve minutes later, Lions were in front. This time Austin Lipman and Bolle were denied in an epic goal-mouth scramble, but the ball only fell to Jake Furman on the edge of the area and he calmly fired the ball into the corner to give Lions a lead they hung onto.

The ten men of Wembley tried vainly to get back into it, but it was Lions day.

Manager Andy Landesberg praised his side and said: "We were not at the races in the first half, but the lads stuck to it and got a deserved win after the break. Hopefully we can kick on from here on all fronts."

LIONS: David Myers, Jake Rinsler, Ollie Craig, Nathan Schindler, Sam Hamerton, Charlie Rubin, Adam Lipman, Jake Furman, Charlie Kasler, Austin Lipman, Adam Bolle. Subs: Adam Harvey, Adam Myeroff, Jamie Jackson

SCORERS: Rubin, Furman