London Lions quickly came back from a losing start in the Spartan South Midlands Division One to register their first win and give manager Andy Landesberg confidence that his pre-season target of a top-six finish can be achieved.
In their opening match Lions went down 1-0 at Rowley Lane to St Neots Town Reserves, despite overwhelming their visitors.
“If it had been a boxing match the referee would have stopped it,” said Landesberg.
“We missed a penalty and had at least 25 good chances but failed to score and at the end I think our opponents were embarrassed by the final result.”
But three days later Lions bounced back with a resounding 3-1 win against visitors Codicote, who struck first, opening the score within 90 seconds from a free-kick which they despatched brilliantly into the top corner for an early lead.
Lions responded within seven minutes when, after Adam Burchell was tripped on the edge of the box, Charlie Kasler’s cross shot drifted through the crowd and went in off the post.
The match was settled in the second half when Kasler’s dipping drive was too hot to handle for the Codicote goalkeeper and Austin Lipman kept a cool head to slot in the rebound.
Lions almost rued missing their chances to extend the lead when, late on, the visitors rattled the crossbar and then had the ball cleared off the line as their supporters appealed for a goal.
But Lions wrapped it up on 88 minutes when impressive man-of-the- match Charlie Rubin cut in from the right and found a gap at the near post to put the game beyond doubt.
“The score does not reflect how much on top we were but we missed so many chances and that is something we really must work on. But it was still three points and that is something I will take any day,” said Landesberg. He is still missing six top players through injury and holidays, and does not expect to see any them until next month, but has full confidence in his squad.
“This is a tougher league than last season, but my boys showed that they are ready for it and have the quality to do well. We have added five Under-18s to the squad for this season. We are an ambitious club and of course I would love to get back up to the Premier Division of the league.
“But we have a wonderful conveyor belt of talent coming through and we need to build a strong base. I am now looking at this as a four-year project.”
