London Lions climbed to fifth in the South Midlands League Division One after finally won back to back games with a 3-1 victory over Amersham Town.
A double from James Gershfield and one from Aron Barnes helped them build on the recent 6-0 drubbing of previously unbeaten Sun Postal Sports.
The Lions made hard work against Amersham. A host of missed chances and then a poor error of judgement nearly cost the home side all three points but in the end the Lions always had enough to get the right result.
With Ben Lauffer away, one change was made to the side that decimated Sun Postal, Guy Morris moved back into defence with Rob Glass shifting into his normal holding midfield role.
The game started at a quick pace with both sides creating openings. A succession of Amersham corners had the home side under pressure but Lions seemed to cope well defensively clearing their lines where needed.
Two injuries in the first 30 minutes meant Amersham had to shuffle their pack but it did not interrupt their flow too much.
Lions’ first and only real chance of the half was taken by Gershfield to open the scoring. After a good move down the Lions right and some excellent individual skill from Josh Kennet, Gershfield was alive and pounced to smash the ball home.
The second half continued in the same vain as the first with Lions now having the bit between their teeth. Chance after chance came and went but it seemed the recent quality in finishing had deserted the team.
With 15 minutes of the game remaining and totally against the run of play Amersham drew level. Danny Berliner in the Lions goal pulled off a fantastic save after Glass lost the ball in the middle of the park to give the visitors the break. The ball span up in the air and bounced awkwardly as Guy Morris went to clear. Getting another two opportunities to send the ball away he took neither and the Amersham forward gratefully accepted an easy tap in.
The equaliser seemed to energise the Lions and after a sluggish period in the game they picked up the tempo and the pace. Ben Ellis, who in recent games has started to show his potential, then beat his man and delivered a peach of a cross for Aron Barnes to latch onto and slot home to once again give the Lions the lead.
With five minutes remaining Lions killed the game dead as Gershfield completed a satisfying double.
Lions manager Tony Gold said “At times today we showed our brilliance and at others our vulnerabilities. It was always going to be a big ask to repeat Wednesday night’s performance given the exceptional result and manner in which we played.
However, we must be more clinical when on top in games and dominating. Poor finishing today could have cost us three points which would have been gutting given our dominance.”
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