Lions beat FC Kickers 2-1
As legends’ opponent couldn’t play this Sunday, we could start our SPL Senior new season with our first match versus the FC Kickers instead. We had a late kick-off on a wet AstroTurf at Wellington College. Several new players were ready to make their debut.
[ SPL ] Shanghai Lions FC 2-1 Shanghai Kickers FC
Our intention was to make a quick impact by using the speed of our wingers on the flanks. Pat in the goal with Laid and Benji in the back to take care of the defense. It worked out well as we took the lead after 5 minutes with a good finish from Romain. Helped by the wind we kept the pressure on the FC Kickers defense. We got more opportunities but failed to finish them. Tyron had a great chance but his free header went wide. Our second goal was quite lucky as a poor corner was missed by several players and ended up at Laid’s feet in the back an easy tip-in gave us a 2-0 lead at half time.
In the second half, our intention was to make the third and use the new players for the last part of the match. However, we failed to take our chances and as the match went on we lost our grip on the midfield and the Kickers got more and more possession and were dangerous on the counter. When they scored the 2-1 it was clear the last 20 minutes were not going to be easy. They had the best chance to make it 2-2 with 5 minutes to go but lucky for us the ball went over. It stayed 2-1 three points for us but it was evident that most players were not up to their usual level yet.
Let’s work hard at the training this week!
Cheers
Freek