Bulldogs Slump To Second Consecutive Heavy Loss
Capalaba 0 Lions FC 7 (Diaz 11', 21'; Jomanday 30', 43', 61', 78'; Gaffney 82') HT 0-4 Played at John Fredericks Park
Sekou Jomanday turned on the style with a four goal haul and two assists as Lions inflicted a second heavy defeat upon Capalaba Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon. Jomanday was quickly into the action setting up both of Lions FC's opening goals for Tynan Diaz. Both occasions saw the Lions striker thread a killer pass through for Diaz, putting clear with one on ones with Bulldogs keeper Sam Chandler and both times finishing expertly. Jomanday then bagged a brace for himself. The first coming on the half hour after he received the ball just inside the box. Poor defending allowed him to regain control of the ball twice before dispatching is past Chandler for Lions' third. Calamitous defending then led to the visitors fourth just before half time when Bulldogs captain David Roby played a loose back pass to Chandler which Jomanday responded quickly too, prodding the ball home having out muscled the Capalaba stopper. The half time scoreline could have been even worse. Jomanday smashing the ball off the crossbar in just the third minute, followed by a Sam Young effort that Chandler did well to tip away. Diaz too was guilty of a bad miss as he fluffed his lines when Young played him in on the edge of the six yard box with just Chandler to beat. The home side could only muster one close effort towards the end of the half when Andrew Thompson shot wide. The visitors were held out until the hour mark, largely due to their dropping the tempo in what became a scrappy period of the game but it was only a matter of time before they would find the back of the net again. This time, Jomanday was on hand to prod home from close range after Chandler could only parry Henry Hore's effort on goal. Ryo Ono had the Bulldogs best effort of the game shortly after. Heading narrowly over from Thompson's cross into the six yard box. The goal of the game though came 12 minutes before the end. A scintillating solo effort from Jomanday saw him skip past three Capalaba defenders and with nifty footwork, committed Chandler to ground before sliding the ball in for his fourth and Lions sixth. Substitute Peter Gaffney rounded out the scoring with another simple tap in, following new signing Gregor Fotheringham's run into the box. The Scot going down from a challenge with the ball falling kindly for Gaffney who made no mistake from six yard out.
The hosts went close to a repeat of last week's scoreline but for the aid of the crossbar again; this time denying Nathan Shepherd's free kick late on which was followed right at the death by a good save from Chandler to deny Gaffney a second after Jomanday nearly made it a hat trick of assists. It's hard to say what is happening with the Bulldogs, but after two heavy defeats, they find themselves as relegation favourites after just two rounds.
It was always going to be a big ask to get a result against the reigning premiers, but it was more the manner in which they capitulated that will have the faithful down at the Kennel worried. It was far too easy for Lions to penetrate them, almost at will. One positive they do have is time to turn things around. For Lions, they have a proven match winner in Jomanday, who despite his goals, linked up superbly with Diaz for the opening two goals. The only sour note for Lions was the substitution of captain Matija Simic late on with an ankle complaint after challenging for the ball with Capalaba's Alex Warrilow. Hopefully it was more a precautionary measure for the centre back.
Coaches Remarks:
Geoff Hurford - Capalaba: "I guess we turn up Tuesday and Thursday and hopefully the boys reflect over the next couple of days and turn up to do some serious hard work. We've had a couple of hard games to start with but that's no excuse. If you want to compete at this level you can't get defeated 8-0 and then 7-0. We've got some soul searching and we go back to the drawing board before we face Easts." Warren Moon - Lions FC: "We did what we had to do. Capalaba are a side that's hurting at the moment and I feel for them, it's not a good position to be in. But we can only do we can do and we were good today."
FB Media Player of the Match: Sekou Jomanday (Lions FC)
.Certainly difficult to look past a player who nets four and sets up two more. Jomanday is impressing in all the right areas and can probably still improve yet as the season goes on.
Match Stats:
Overall Possession: 38% - 62%
Shots on target: 1 - 14
Shots off target: 6 - 7
Corners: 2 - 8
Free kicks: 10 - 15
Offsides: 0 - 5
Yellow cards: 3 - 1
Red cards: 0 - 0 Team line-ups
Capalaba: Chandler (gk), Basnett, Booth, Brown (Warrilow 45'), Dunn, Fellows (McEachran 74'), McMullen, Ono, Ray, Roby ©, Thompson. Subs: McIlwain, Warrilow, McEachran, Hwang. Lions FC: Cuminao (gk), Butters, Cokell, Diaz (Gaffney 66'), Hore, Jarrard (Cosgrove 62'), Jomanday, Reardon, Shepherd, Simic (Fotheringham 72'), Young. Subs: Cosgrove, Fotheringham, Gaffney, Rucker, Long (rgk). REFEREE Paul Eldridge
