HERTS SENIOR COUNTY LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
LONDON LIONS 2 KNEBWORTH 1

A late strike from Josh Kennet helped London Lions get their HSCL season off to a flying start at home to Knebworth.

Lions welcomed newly-promoted Knebworth to the Lane for the start of the 2016/17 season.

SEE MATCH PHOTOS

The hot summer seemed to disappear overnight and a combination of 30mph winds and persistent rain were not what the crowd expected for a Saturday afternoon in late August.

Lions started brightly and Austin Lipman had the ball in the net after just six minutes, only to have the goal disallowed for offside.

But it wasn’t long before the boys in white and blue took the lead and a great one-two with skipper Kennet and Lipman resulted in Kennet slipping the ball to James Gershfield who finished neatly.

Charlie Kasler was a handful to the Knebworth midfield and just after the quarter of an hour mark his mazy run was halted by a sloppy tackle and Kasler’s free-kick only narrowly missed the target.

But on 18 minutes a rare attack from the opposition resulted in a corner and poor defending in the six-yard box gave Knebworth an unlikely equaliser with debutant David Myers in the Lions goal having no chance.

This seemed to spur Lions on to the front foot and Jordan Marks, Gershfield, Lipman and Kasler all saw good efforts blocked by an inspired keeper and defence and half time came with the scores level.

Coach Steve Grenfell and caretaker-boss Nathan Kosky lifted the Lions during their half-time team-talk and the hosts started the second half on the front foot.

Yet with no goal forthcoming it was Knebworth striker that hit the post midway through the second half.

Adam Burchell replacing Marks for the last 20 immediately made an impact though his goal was ruled out for a harsh offside decision.

With just seven minutes remaining it looked as though the points would be shared but Burchell had other ideas and a great run and pass set up Kennet who found the corner of the goal and gave Lions a deserved 2-1 lead.

A needless free-kick with seconds to go caused some anxious moments for the home supporters but this was dealt with by the defensive shield of Zac Rose, Nick Landesberg, Andy Glynne, Charlie Rubin and Adam Lipman who replaced his namesake.

A fair result and a good start but Lions know they will have to be more clinical in the final third if they have any aspirations to be in the mix come the end of the season.

LIONS: David Myers, Zac Rose, Nick Landesberg, Andy Glynne, Charlie Rubin, Harry Hatchwell, Josh Kennet, Austin Lipman (sub: Adam Lipman), Jordan Marks, James Gershfield

GOALS: Gershfield, Kennet