The 1st and Devs teams were in action on Saturday. The 1st team travelled to Hambledon who like the lemons have had an unbeaten start to the season. Manorcroft started brightly and Jake Streeter chested and volleyed an unstoppable strike from the edge of the box following a clearance from a Manorcroft corner to open the scoring. Joe Lynch then added a second following excellent work in midfield by Reece Gargan who provided a through ball assist for Lynch who coolly finished one on one with the ‘keeper. Hambledon who also looked a threat every time they attacked then pulled a goal back before just minutes later Tyler Robinson pulled out a fantastic piece of skill before sublimely lobbing the opposition goalkeeper with the ball dropping into the top bracket! Both teams continued to look like scoring with every attack and Hambledon clearly riled by being 3-1 down put in an all guns blazing final 10 minutes and pulled two further goals back to leave the half time score 3-3!

Despite a regroup and reshuffle at half time Manorcroft started slowly and the home team continued their momentum from the 1st half by adding a fourth to lead for the first time in the game. That man Robinson however equalised for the visitors after a Connor Young cross was whipped into the box Tyler beat the oncoming ‘keeper to head into an empty net. In the heavy and wet conditions both teams tired and both had several chances to score what would surely have been a winner. Hambledon did have the ball in the back of the net but their rather greedy number nine tapped home from a yard out after Armstrong had been beaten by a cross and header, unfortunately for the hosts at the point of heading the ball the 9 was behind the goalkeeper and all defenders and so by stealing a goal on the line was rightly signalled as offside. A difficult decision for the home side to take but the abuse given to the young Manorcroft linesman (a qualified and registered Surrey official) was quite frankly unacceptable and the hosts were slightly fortunate the referee clearly didn’t want the paperwork by reporting their abuse, ultimately it was stupidity by their own 9 that had robbed them of 3 points in what was a topsy turvy game of football played for the most part as always in a competitive but fair and enjoyable environment. A case of how greed can change the face of a thousand people!

The Devs went down 3-0 at home, having been 0-0 at half time a Devs team featuring no less than nine players of 18 or under eventually lost out to their physical opponents who used age and experience to break down Ross Clark’s men. A number of debuts however and both the manager and senior players involved were encouraged by the performances of the Young Lemons.

We have a number of Juniors in action on Sunday whilst the Youth Team host Virginia Water at home in the County Cup on Monday evening.

#COYL🍋