After putting ten past the Animals the previous week,Fritz had all but wrapped up the league,but The Lions gave them a bit of a scare and showed that it will be a bit closer next season.
There were the usual absences so the starting team was,Nagel in goal.Morris (captain) and a heavily blistered Smith in defence.
In midfield were,Nightingale,Wallace and Bristow with O'Sulivan man marking.
Up-front was Chelsea Brown.
Subs Stingle,Alexander,K Brown,De Silva.
A special mention should go to Mark Stingle who came down and was content to stay on the bench due to the availability of Nagel.It was this kind of spirit which typified The Lions attitude and lead to such a passionate display.
In the absence of The Captain,Spencer,it was Ian Morris who once again took over team matters.He decided to go with man marking their small but highly dangerous #12.It was O'Sulivan who was put on the job and did extremely well in limiting his threat.
Having Wallace playing in the middle seemed to spread a sense of calm on the ball throughout the team.This was to be the best Lions performance for some time.Everyone played with their head and their heart.When O'Sulivan came off Alexander continued the man marking job on their #12 and everyone covered and chased back superbly.
Following a tight first half of few chances for either team The Lions went in 0-1 down at half time and felt that the game was there for the taking.
At the begining of the second half,both Alexander and O'Sulivan were relieved to see that #12 had not come back out.
Unfortunately,they have other ways of scoring,which they did early on with a well worked goal to make it Lions 0-2 Fritz.
This was becoming familiar territory for The Lions,but unlke previous weeks,everyone kept calm and encouraged eachother.
When Chelsea Brown made it 1-2 it was no more than The Lions deserved.
There seemed to be more confidence in the side and some good football was played by both teams.
The referee tried to mess it up by giving them a penalty,but Nagel,once again psyched the kicker out and he blazed it over the top.
There were chances at both ends with Chelsea Brown missing a good oppurtunity and them having the ball cleared off the line a couple of times by some determined defending.
When Fritz scored to make it 1-3 it was still not over and heads were still held high.
The Lions went on the offensive and rattled the woodwork a couple of times before O'Sulivan bundled in a corner to make it 2-3.
Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for another one and that's the way it finished.
It was generally an excellent team performance despite the defeat and went a long way to restoring some much needed pride and confidence.
Nick
