Sport
Lipman double keeps London Lions flying high
London Lions returned to winning ways with a 4-1 success over in-form Letchworth to maintain their lead at the top of the Herts County Premier Division.
January 23, 2017 11:46
1 min read
London Lions returned to winning ways with a 4-1 success over in-form Letchworth to maintain their lead at the top of the Herts County Premier Division.
January 23, 2017 11:46HERTS SENIOR COUNTY LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
LONDON LIONS 4 LETCHWORTH 1
With the main pitch at the Lane frozen, the game was switched to the adjoining 3G to avoid postponement as both teams looked to continue their form, with Letchworth having won four in a row, while Lions had lost only one league game all season.
Lions fielded ex-Maccabi Haifa stopper Jake Lewis in goal for his debut and it was the home team who immediately set the tone, with top-scorer James Gershfield inevitably opening the score early on.
Despite this, the game was even with Lions not yet settled during the early encounters in a defence missing Charlie Rubin and Nick Landesberg.
It took until almost half-time for Lions to add some comfort to the scoreline, when Austin Lipman cut inside and fired a deflected shot into the goal to give Lions a two-goal cushion.
After the break Lions looked more settled with Andy Glynne and Jake Furman playing superbly in the spine of the side, with Adam Burchell and Josh Kennet looking dangerous on the flanks.
Lions made it 3-0 with Lipman adding his second when again he cut in and arrowed a splendid goal into the top corner. The Lions midfielder was revelling in his No. 10 role.
Letchworth did beat the impressive Lewis, and pulled the score back to 3-1 as Lions were guilty of overplaying for a period, but the game was put to bed with a bizarre goal as centre-half Glynne hoisted the ball forward only for the Letchworth keeper to mis-kick and allow the ball to pass him into the net.
Lions won’t complain as this was an important win.
Jubilant manager Andy Landesberg said: "There are a few teams who we know are always going to be a danger if we don't perform, and Letchworth are one.
"Although we took a little while to settle, we have such quality going forward that if we get the ball up there we have a great chance.
"Andy Glynne, Austin and a number of others were on form, but Jake Furman really stood out today - keeping it simply and very effective in the middle for us.
"Today was a test of the squad, with a number of the boys out, and we showed we have strength in depth."
LIONS: Jake Lewis, Adam Lipman, Zac Rose, Harry Hatchwell, Adam Burchell, Andy Glynne, Jake Furman, Ben Goldberg, Josh Kennet, Austin Lipman, James Gershfield. Subs: Adam Arnold, Jamie Jackson, Sam Sloma
SCORERS: Gershfield, Lipman (2), Glynne
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Jake Furman