Gold falls to Green giants

A f t e r w i n - n i n g p r o m o t i o n t o t h e Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division, London Lions came down to earth with a bang with a 2-1 first match defeat at Leverstock Green.

Had they left Pancake Lane with a point it would probably have been a fair reflection over the 90 minutes.

But Lions manager Tony Gold admitted: “This is going to be a tough season.

“We could have come away with something, but were punished through two poor individual mistakes. We have lost eight or nine of our best players from last season and not been able to replace them.

“We are now playing semi-professional teams who pay their players perhaps £100 a week, while we have enthusiastic, but inexperienced lads. We just don’t have strength in depth.

“We, of course, can only use Jewish players which is a problem because there no longer seems to be the desire among Jewish youth to play at this level.

“And we had virtually no pre-season preparation as many of our team were away in Israel, whereas the other teams in the league had six to eight weeks to warm up.”

The Lions side was unrecognisable from the one that won the Division One title and it was clear from the outset they lacked the cutting edge.

They took the lead in the third minute. A corner found Adam Bolle on the edge of the box and he tried to curl a shot into the net only for Ben Ellis to meet it inside the six-yard box and divert it past keeper David Bailey. Leverstock equalised 10 minutes later when Stewart King rifled home a low shot.

The winner came two minutes from time and was a stark lesson on the ruthlessness of the teams in this division.

L i o n s g a v e t h e b a l l a w a y i n t h e i r o w n h a l f a s C h a d Pinching, who had only been on the field six minutes, threaded a great pass to put King through and he kept his composure to slot the ball past Lions keeper Mario Cenolli.

The Lions reserve side also had a bad day at home to Belstone crashing 5-0 in a friendly.