MGBSFL PREMIER DIVISION
MACCABI LONDON LIONS A 3 WOODFORD WANDERERS 2

A late strike from Ricky Rinder helped a new-look Lions A take maximum points off Division One champions Woodford Wanderers at Rowley Lane.

Lions played some tidy football during the first half but the Woodford boys "worked their shiny, new kits off," and restricted the Lions to 20-yard shots and half-chances.

Woodford were rewarded for their efforts around the 20 minute mark when TOM ALEXANDER found the net after some brilliant wing play by James Ryan.

An injury to Ricky Rinder, who was starting his first game in 18 months, saw Lions bring on of their biggest threats of last year, Adam Arnold, who seamlessly started to play one-touch football with the impressive Sam Arghebant. Both where at the centre of everything we did and linked up extremely well.

The remainder of the half was a constant bombardment of Lions pressure which saw them spurn a number of chances before the ball broke to ARNOLD to slot home on the stroke of half time to bring them level.

The second half was similar the first, with Woodford working hard and giving everything and again they got our rewards when Alex Taylor committed a foul, allowing Harrison Midda to tuck home a penalty after 60 minutes.

The Lions were far from done though and they equalised with 15 minutes when ALEX ROSE, the youngest member of their squad at 16, capped a tremendous game by giving the Woodford keeper the eyes and sent his shot into the other corner.

Amid mounting pressure from the home team, and with Woodford's defence getting deeper and deeper, and their keeper pulling off save after save, it looked as though the visitors had done enough to earn a point. But the reintroduction of RINDER saw him capitalise from a great block from the Woodford keeper to coolly volley home the winner.

A Lions spokesman commented: "In hindsight we should have scored more and killed the game off, but that’s the way football is sometimes.

"Credit where credit's due, Woodford made it hard for us but our class shone through, and coming from behind twice shows the attitude of the players that the management have at our disposal this year.

"We have a number of players coming back next week which will make everything a little more interesting and make our decisions a little bit harder. Getting off to a good start was key and that is what we have done."

Woodford joint-manager Daryl Kay told JC Sport: "We knew that going to Rowley Lane would be tough – we had a very staggered pre-season but on Sunday, we performed as well as I’d seen us play since Jerome and I took over.

"After taking the lead twice against an experienced top-flight team it was so cruel to lose it in the last minute, but that’s the Premier League.

"I said at the start of last season in Division One, no team will have an easy game against us and we pushed Lions all the way.

"Our attitude and work-rate is what won us the league last season and today we set the bar for performance levels going forward. If we go into every game with the same attitude as today we’ll be okay."