Lions first 11aside match | Exeter Lions Football Club

By Rich C - 18/06/2010
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The lions travelled up in force to the Blackpool GFSN tournament; eight players and Martin the Chairman managing to prize themselves away from the temptation of Torquay Pride, which frustratingly coincided with the flagship GFSN tournament. "should have been in Torquay" came as the first of a series of beers, then Vodka fuelled jokes on the seemingly endless journey to the more tacky of the two seaside resorts. More on that later.

The weekend began well, the hosts Yorkshire starting events with a party in a teeming venue, with new player Richard fortunate enough to win the England tickets from the raffle, giving him an opportunity to mention the club on stage. Things deteriorated rapidly and the team stumbled home at various silly times.

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of mother hen, aka Ash, everyone made breakfast and filled up with the serious pre match food of a greasy fry up wolfed to stories of silliness from the night before.

Expecting the tac more normally associated with the legendary venue, the team were pleasantly surprised to find a lovely, large, green leafy park that could rival many a venue. The sheer number of teams that began accumulating really brought home the popularity of the event.

The Lions started proceedings with a nil nil draw, but soon found their shooting boots in the next match, scoring two past Irish Shamrocks and hanging on with some disciplined defending based on a reliable acting goalie Howie, despite the Shamrocks late surge and goal. The next match saw a startling strike from Jimmy put us into the driving seat, an equalising goal spoiling the party.

Form started to dip, with the lack of an out-and-out goal keeper, meaning Howie, Jimmy, Mark, Rich C and Craig took turns to don the green shirt and enter the firing line. A tough lesson from eventual winners Titans saw our heaviest defeat; one of the few positives was Rich K's strength against their gladiator of a striker, despite having a good five stone disadvantage.

Then came the moment of magic that turned our tournament on its head. Merely writing about it makes the hairs stick up on my neck. With just two group games remaining against the impressive Cardiff and Manchester first teams, whilst putting on a brave face, inside we were finding it hard to see where the points would come from, especially as Cardiff had won every game and hadn't conceded at all.

It was points we needed, with just five accumulated thus far. Organised defending saw us holding a strong, fast, skilful and fit Cardiff at bay. But energy was running out, the battering our defence was somehow withstanding was taking its toll. Could we possibly hold on for the solitary point?

Following another spurned Cardiff attack, we suddenly had a break on, Mark out foxing his man and running down the wing. Howie spotted a gap at the near post and darted, screaming for the ball. The ball in was inch perfect, but fast as it had to be to get there. Despite the speed of the ball everything seemed to slow as open mouthed the whole squad desperately hoped Howie could hold his nerve at such an important moment.

As if he could do it with eyes closed, and with the composure Heskey would envy, Howie slotted the ball calmly first time past the keeper. It was a lesson to anyone in how to finish and a lesson to everyone who's anyone that magical moments can happen when the team works as a unified whole.

In a moment our tournament turned on its head and we easily collected another point and clean sheet from the tournament favourites and locals Manchester 1.

Grabbing the last qualification slot from the group put us head to head with Manchester 2 who were flying and had topped their group. Under the motivating joint guidance of coach Paul and Chairman Martin, the team gave a good show, mother hen held their extremely talented strikes at bay for the majority. But a moment of finesse from the Manchester striker that beat first Ash then Rich C then Mark who was doing his shift in goal ended up spelling the end of the line.

It was a decent performance with some great results, and Lions raised our profile further. We may be in with a chance of hosting next years GFSN tournament, which would mean we not only raise our profile at about the time we might be applying for GFSN entry, but also so Craig and Rich C won't need mother's permission to wee on the way.

The weekend was far from over, and the squad hit the bars to watch England do things the English way, then Lions do things the Lions way. Despite mother's to be proven justifiable nagging, another late night ensued, followed by a somehow logical late night alcohol finish off.

As if some form of torture for the alcoholics masquerading as footballers, the following day was spent splicing medically-severe hangovers with a mix of adrenalin, gushing fresh air and risk of puking that mother hen had so wisely warned against the previous night.

Once we'd had our fill at Blackpool pleasure beach, we started the long subdued mission back, to initial plots of landing the honour of hosting the next tournament in Torquay. The end.