Lions Tighten Grip On Premiership In Style
Lions FC 4 (Kenyon 29’, Diaz 33’, Butters 54’, 73’) Albany Creek 0
HT 2-0
Played at Lions Stadium
The unstoppable run to back to back titles continued today for Lions FC when they were hardly troubled in beating Albany Creek 4-0 at Lions Stadium. The troubles started in earnest for the away side when Nathan Shepherd swung in a corner from the right which was flicked on at the near post for Marko Jankovic and Brodie Kenyon to meet at the far post and the latter player toe-poked home from close range. Four minutes later, Sekou Jomanday went on a sixty metre run and teed up the ball for Tynan Diaz to slide home from ten yards out. The 2-0 halftime lead was doubled after the break as Michael Butters kept his recent scoring streak ticking along with both finishes, the first created by a neat turn and the second a free close-range header on the end of an accurate cross from the left. The final scoreline was a fair representation of a day when ACE were unable to repeat their excellent win over Holland Park Hawks in round 16. Straight from kick off, they were on the defensive, a tactic which backfired and left them with a mountain to climb. It’s become a bit of a standard to park the bus when playing at Richlands but if it doesn’t work and when a goal is conceded the negative approach almost certainly guarantees a loss. Lions were missing players and started with a re-shaped backline which didn’t suffer at all from replacing Ajdin Fetahagic with Liam Cosgrove. Jomanday also got ninety minutes and, despite some inaccurate passing at times, made plenty of inroads when pushing forward in possession. Albany Creek had chances to score. At the end of the first half and for a period during the second they looked dangerous but their shooting let them down. And the game was effectively over anyway. With other results not favouring them, and with five teams between them and fourth place, their season is over if it wasn’t already. And it was almost a match played in second gear for Lions who have only complacency to worry about from here until the end of the season. Today they were sharp once again and could easily have scored more if not for some desperate defence from their markers. Another Sunday afternoon and another three points for the best team running around. Next Saturday, Creek return to Wolter Park and can have their say in the leadership race when they play Capalaba who come into the game on the back of a scintillating success over Peninsula on Saturday night. Lions head down the motorway to Cornubia Park and can effectively end Logan FC’s season as well with their 15th win of the season. FB Media Player Of The Match: ST Michael BUTTERS - Lions FC
The adaptable Butters started this game up front and caused all manner of problems for the ACE defence with some excellent runs off the ball and two smart finishes which could easily have been a hat trick. Team line-ups Lions: Zabaks (gk), Takahashi, Reardon, Cosgrove, Shepherd, Jankovic, Cokell, Diaz, Butters Kenyon, Jomanday. Subs: Morgan, Ngoyi, Fujitani, Moon, Murphy.
Albany Creek: Ishmael (gk), Van Daalen, McEvoy, Fujimoto, Thomson, Hall, Sorbello, Saito, Arop, Campbell. Subs: Millar, Vesey, Mehnat-Gir, Gwynn-Jones, Lightbottom. FB Media Match Stats. Possession: 1st Half 62% - 38% / 2nd Half 66% - 34%
Overall Possession: 64% - 36%
Shots on target: 5 - 4
Shots off target: 4 - 9
Penalties 0 - 0
Free kicks: 10 - 13
Offside: 4 - 0
Corners: 7 - 5
Yellow Cards: 2 - 2
Red Cards: 0 - 0 Referee: Casey Reibelt
