MOLTEN SPARTAN SOUTH MIDLANDS LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
LONDON LIONS 3 HODDESDON TOWN 1
London Lions maintained their perfect start to the season with an impressive 3-1 victory over Hoddesdon Town at Hemel Hempstead FC.
If you wanted to see a game of football that had it all then Hemel Hempstead was the place to be as London Lions entertained a strong Hoddesdon Town.
Four goals, a sending off and a poor performance from the man in the middle - it was like Clint Eastwood had remade the classic western The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
Overall on an action-packed night, the Lions unequivocally deserved the three points and fully merit being top of the league after three games.
Hoddesdon have been somewhat of a boggy team for Lions over the years so to finally beat them and to do it with 10 men made it even sweeter.
To show the unbelievable strength in depth Lions currently have in their ranks they were without 11 first team regulars and a further nine players who are on the periphery.
Craig Ellis moved to left-back, Matt Stock started his first game of the season and new signing Adam Bolle, who was to have a mixed night of emotions, played up top in place of the injured Sam Sloma.
The home side flew out of the blocks forcing Hoddesdon to concede an early corner. Aron Barnes slipped the ball to Daniel Stanton. Playing a clever one-two, Barnes opened up the space slipped the ball back to Stanton who from the edge of the box smashed home an unstoppable shot that Reece Buck in the visitors goal could only watch and admire as it nestled in the goal.
The early goal lifted Lions as they began to unravel the football which they have been so accustomed to playing. Stock started to terrorise Sam Perrin at left-back - delivering two incredible whipped crosses that deserved better than just flying past the six-yard box without anyone attacking them.
The Lions back four, who were immense throughout, especially Ricky Engleman and Craig Ellis, kept the Hoddesdon front line feeding off scraps.
Bolle, who was making his Lions debut, was a handful and he showed glimpses of what he can bring to an already very talented squad. He was unfortunate to end up in the ref's notebook following an altercation with Hoddesdon number four John Stevenson.
Both sides continued to compete playing at times what looked like a frantic pace. Unfortunately, according to Lions, the referee wasn’t up to the quality of the game and he did his level best to ruin what was actually when allowed to flow a decent game of football.
As the half ended Lions were dealt a sucker punch. Whilst walking back to the dressing rooms, Bolle made a comment to the referee about the earlier yellow card. The official took offence at what was said and wasted no time in brandishing a red card.
Lions now had to defend a 1-0 lead and do it with 10 men against a side they have never beaten.
In all the years Lions have been playing, maybe once before have they produced the kind of performance they fashioned in a quite scintillating second half.
Against all the odds the 10 men of Lions delivered two quick goals in the space of five minutes to leave Hoddesdon completely shell-shocked.
Firstly, Barnes, who is currently on fire, hit a shot from 30 yards which deceived Buck and ended up crashing into the back of the net. Then, Ben Ellis, who broke clear bravely stretched out his leg to toe poke the ball past Buck who came rushing out crashing into him. Suddenly from 1-0 it was 3-0 and Lions couldn’t have asked for a better start to the half.
As the game wore on, Lions, who continued to show outstanding character, soaked up wave after wave of attack. Craig Ellis, Engleman and Barnes showed incredible energy and continued to drive Lions on.
Hoddesdon then pulled a goal back following a sustained period of pressure as Lions began to tire. Stanton and Stock were replaced with 20 minutes remaining after picking up knocks as Lions introduced fresh legs in Dan Green and Avi Schwarz.
The visitors then had one last hurrah to try and salvage something from the game but Lions held firm to take three massive points.
Delighted with his teams efforts, Lions manager Tony Gold said: "We had some pretty big players unavailable tonight in a game against a side we don’t have a particular great record against.
"The performance from the one to 14 available was exceptional and the manner in which they won the game tonight showed a tremendous amount of character and belief.
"The players are trusting each other which is a huge asset and not something we have had in abundance in recent times.
"The sending off could have caused us problems but in actual fact it helped us stay focused and even more disciplined.
"It was another decent night’s work for us, a really satisfying win for a whole host of reasons.
"We played really well and I hope the lads are thoroughly proud of themselves for the endeavour and desire they showed to beat a top side."
Lions: Mario Cenolli, Ricky Engleman, Andy Glynne, Guy Morris, Michael Sacks, Aron Barnes, Craig Ellis, Daniel Stanton (sub: Aviel Schwarz), Matt Stock (sub: Dan Green), Ben Ellis, Adam Bolle
Goals: Daniel Stanton, Ben Ellis, Aron Barnes
Man-of-the-match: Ricky Engleman