Mighty Shane 1-5 Red Lions
After the highs of winning the TIFL Cup and placing second in the league, Shane were brought back down to earth in the opening game of the season.
Following a summer of intense transfer activity and speculation, Shane came into the game without a fully fit squad. Key players had left the team, and many had not returned from their summer jaunts away.
The line-up
From front to back, we started: Adam; Juan, Danny Miller, Daniel Dickie, Kunga; Ali Mac, Mitchell (C); Oli, Jayke, Omer; Ethan.
First half: ten good minutes, then the floodgates
The first ten minutes were fairly even, and we managed to compete quite well. We had some good raids down the sides with Oli and Omer, and Ethan was managing to make the ball stick and hold it up, even when surrounded by Lions defenders.
Lions were threatening to get in behind, and Kunga and Juan did very well to sweep up through balls that were played in behind the Daniels.
But it was only ever a matter of time.
One of those passes eventually found a genuinely quick attacker in behind, and Adam was left with no chance whatsoever. 1–0.
We continued to probe forward, and Ali Mac broke into the box but couldn’t quite get a shot away. Lions quickly broke and took advantage of an overload down the side before pulling it back and tucking away a second.
At this point, the game felt against us, and we were quickly picked apart for a third. We managed to stem the flow into half-time.
Half time: back to the drawing board
We switched to a flat five across midfield and dropped the defensive line a little closer to Adam, as the Lions attackers were finding far too much joy running from deep into big spaces.
The message to the central three of Mitchell, Paul and Ali Mac was simple: don't get split, and kill those passes in behind.
Second half: better shape, worse postcodes
The second half was better in Shane's defensive shape, but Lions scored a proper sickener - a corner, a spell of pinball in the box, and a sliced shot that somehow found its way in.
They'd struggled to create much all half and got one for free.
Our better shape gave the wingers and Ethan a platform to attack, but we struggled to get out of our end to provide support, and the front three were often isolated.
At one point, Ethan picked up the ball on the halfway line, drove forward, and his nearest teammate was in a different post code. There has to be comedy in the tragedy, fellas.
The debutants make their mark
We rang the changes, handing Jamie and Liz their debuts, with Liz going up top and Juan pushed out to the right wing. This gave us a lot more attacking impetus almost immediately.
Juan won a corner, Oli swung in a lovely delivery, and Liz rose to power home a header like peak Didier Drogba. Seems we've found ourselves a new target woman.
She nearly had a second shortly thereafter. Juan pressed brilliantly to turn the ball over and squared it across, but the finish wouldn't quite come.
A stretched finish
Warm conditions, tiring legs, and the game opened right up.
Jamie cleared one off the line, Oli couldn't quite find a finish at the other end, and Lions added a fifth at the death.
Shout-outs
Jayke — played roughly every position on the pitch bar goalkeeper, and did it without a word of complaint.
Ethan — led the line superbly, frequently with no support within shouting distance.
Juan — excellent defensive cover, and behind several of our best moments going forward.
Liz — leapt like a salmon on debut and got us on the scoresheet.
Mitchell — marshalled and organised the midfield against opponents who were, on the day, simply better than us.
Final word
5–1 is a sore one to start with, but there's not much point dressing it up: they were the better side and we were short on bodies, sharpness, and summer sun cream.
The shape in the second half and the debutants both gave us something to build on. The rest of the squad will be back from their holidays soon enough, and it can only get better from here.
Up the Shane.
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