WATFORD FRIENDLY LEAGUE CUP QUARTER-FINAL
EVERGREEN 2 MACCABI LONDON LIONS 1
Maccabi London Lions bowed out of the WFL League Cup at the last eight stage after going down by the odd goal at Evergreen.
Although the result was the same - a defeat - the level of performance was greatly improved on the league match the two teams played at the same venue in December.
On a heavy, but perfectly playable pitch, Lions took advantage of their dominance in the first 20 minutes by scoring a scrappy goal through ALEX ROSE who forced the ball in from close range.
But the Lions were unable to hang on to the lead for more than three minutes. A long clearance caused confusion in the Lions defence and the Evergreen striker got to the ball first. His initial strike on goal was well saved by James Harpin, however, as the ball escaped his grasp, he was adjudged by the referee of impeding the striker and a penalty was awarded and subsequently scored by the same player.
The game disintegrated after half-time, with both teams finding it hard to play any meaningful football on the sticky surface.
Lions continued to make basic errors and gave up possession of the ball far too easily. This meant that Harpin was the busier of the two keepers pulling off a few excellent saves.
Harpin was called into action again with about 10 minutes left on the clock following another defensive error. Having turned a rasping effort around the post, Evergreen scored from the resulting corner.
Lions battled until the end but without really testing the Evergreen keeper and the game ended 2-1.
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