Lionheart Kennet is king for a day

The Langley pitch was in a terrible state - putting paid to any football either side were hoping to play.

Lions were given clear instructions before the game to play in wide areas and not take any unnecessary risks at the back.

The visitors were missing six key regulars Mario Cenolli, Guy Morris, Matt Stock, Danny Berg, Andy Glynne and skipper Dean Nyman. Dan Lee returned between the sticks, Adam Myeroff back from holiday replaced the injured Danny Berg at right-back, Craig Ellis made his first appearance of the season in Andy Glynne’s absence and TJ Keterman played the lone role up top with Dean Nyman on work duties.

In the last month Lions have shown they are capable of mixing it with the best and equally capable of winning games late on. In the first 15 minutes of the first-half Langley seemed shell shocked at Lions approach as they seemed to be beating their hosts at their own game.

The referee did his best to make the game all about him with some bizarre decisions which unfortunately were to get worse as the game unfolded.

Lions forged ahead after 25 minutes. Having been awarded a free-kick 20-yards from goal, up stepped Kennet to curl an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

Lions had the bull by the horns and continued to ask Langley questions for which they had no answers.

Ten minutes before the break a fantastic move involving Keterman and Sloma ended with Kennet receiving the ball, cutting inside his opponent and lashing the ball home to double the Lions lead.

The Lions defence superbly marshalled by David Souter and Kyle Bentwood held firm to the half-time interval.

The second half was action packed and Lions showed a remarkable resolve as the footballing gods tried to conspire against them.

Craig Ellis was then shown a red card 10 minutes into the half for a second caution which would have been contentious had it even been a foul.

Following the sending off Aron Barnes, Kennet and Ben Ellis all received yellow cards yet in difficult conditions against a competitive team there was not one bad tackle over the 90 minutes. The referee was overly pedantic and did his best to ruin what was actually an entertaining game on a very difficult pitch.

With Lions digging deep and defending for their lives, they still carried the fight to their opponents before Langley pulled a goal back.

The final 10 minutes were frantic but Lions held firm and clinched what can only be described as an incredible win.

Lions manager Tony Gold said: "I have nothing but admiration and praise for my players today. This is not an easy place to come to for many reasons and today it felt even harder as at times during the game it felt like we were playing against 12 men.

"Some of the ref’s decisions were baffling and I am sure when he reflects on his performance he will be disappointed.

"However, I don't want to focus on that and detract from what was an outstanding performance from a committed and incredibly hard working set of Lions players.

"We had six regulars out today all of whom have been instrumental in our recent good fortune and yet we still came here against all the odds and pulled off a great win even playing the last 30 minutes with 10 men. That shows the growth, character and belief we now have in our ranks and how far we have come.

"All in all the most important aspect in football is having options. Options to be able to change situations if things aren't quite going your way.

"In the last few months its having those options that has made the difference.

"The most pleasing aspect of today was seeing a game plan carried out and executed precisely the way Steve, Darren and I wanted. I was particularly pleased for Josh who scored two fantastic goals and is almost back to his brilliant best."