Goals from Daniel Stanton and James Gershfield helped London Lions bounc back from Saturday's cup semi-final defeat as they beat a Park Street Village side 2-0.
Facing a tough wind and going up the slope in the first-half the Lions rear guard of Adam Myeroff, Jon Ellis, Guy Morris and Tony Gold had to dig deep and soak up relentless pressure as PSV attacked with purpose and intent.
After 15 minutes of feeling each other out Lions took the lead thanks to a Daniel Stanton special which had the watching spectators leaping from their seats. Picking up a loose ball just inside the PSV half he dropped a shoulder getting a yard on his man and lashed the ball from 30 yards. The power of the shot was too good for the PSV keeper and the ball flew into the top of the goal.
The goal only aggravated PSV and they dug in and carried the game to the home side. Matt Davis in the Lions goal had to be at his very best to keep out two decent efforts before the cross bar came to his rescue diverting the ball wide.
For Lions, Jason Goldstein make his first start of the season for the first-team after some decent performances in the reserves. He won some good headers early on and looked very composed on the ball.
PSV looked continued to look threatening but on the counter Lions also looked just as dangerous with Dean Nyman, Danny Cole and Gershfield constant thorns in the visitors side.
Just as the half was up Lions ill fortune with injuries continued with a serious head injury to skipper Rob Glass. Still somehow after being patched up he managed to return for the second-half.
The second period began in a similar vein to the first but this time it was Lions who looked the more threatening. Danny Cole always asked PSV questions at corners with some excellent deliveries as did Gold’s free-kicks but the deliveries lacked that final touch to put the ball in the goal as Morris, Ellis and Glass all missed good heading opportunities.
PSV were there for the taking, misplacing passes and lacking any sort of clinical edge up front although Matty Newman continued to work hard for the visitors.
Lions kept creating chances left right and centre, and relentless corners only added to the pressure on the visitors’ goal. And the second goal finally came. Gershfield worked a good opening and drove in the space, setting himself he pulled the trigger and his shot ended up finding the back of the net.
The lively striker then flashed a cross just past the far post as the Blues looked to treble their lead. Lions then introduced the experience of Adam Stolerman and Danny Berg to see out the final minutes before the referee called time on arguably one of Lions best wins of the season.
Blues boss Tony Gold felt his side fully deserved their 2-0 win saying “The lads were fantastic and after the effort and commitment they put in, they got their rewards. The biggest positive is that we bounced back from a disappointing cup result on Saturday with another good league performance and result which is fantastic.
“Credit to PSV because throughout the game they threw a lot at us but we dealt with it and always looked a threat going forward.”
Looking ahead to Thursday’s game with Met Police, he added “All we are doing is looking at each game as it comes, see if we can win each game and work as hard as we can to achieve a positive result.”
Lions: Matt Davis, Danny Berg (sub: Danny Cole), Adam Myeroff, Guy Morris, Jonny Ellis, Tony Gold, Rob Glass, Daniel Stanton, Jason Goldstein (sub: Adam Stolerman), James Gershfield, Dean Nyman