Lewisham survive nail-biting opener

LCFA 2 – Solar SC 2
Lewisham faced a tough opening to their 2010 Dallas Cup campaign, drawn against Solar SC a local side coached by a former Charlton Athletic pro, and finalists in the division last year. With only one team to progress from our four team group, mistakes couldn’t afford to be made at this early stage of the tournament and both players and management were well aware of the pressure.
It was a nail-biting affair from start to finish, with tactics for both teams determined by the strong winds. Playing against the breeze in the first half Lewisham looked settled and composed in possession despite the difficult conditions, and happy to sit deep when Solar had the ball. Keeper Matt Bailey dealt with a few awkward hanging balls, but other than that Solar looked unlikely to score until an uncharacteristically sloppy mistake from Lewisham’s defence gifted the Solar centre forward with a clear run on goal, which he calmly slotted home.
Despite the disappointment, Lewisham picked themselves up and continued to play solid passing football until the break. As the tension increased in the second half both sides picked up the tempo, and some fierce challenges resulted in yellow cards for Collins and Golding, while Richard Morgan went wide with a diving header. Both Solar and Lewisham had further chances to change the score line, but it wasn’t until the 75th minute when Solar orchestrated a powerful set-piece with runners arriving late to the far post that the score line changed once again. At first it appeared that it had been headed superbly off the line by substitute Fabio Saraiva only for the linesman to rule that the ball had entirely crossed the line. With less than 15 minutes to play, Lewisham were staring down the barrel of a 2-nil defeat and an early exit from the tournament.
The turning point came in the 81st of the game when the constantly influential Omar Folke’s low shot from the edge of the box beat the unsighted Solar keeper. Buoyed by this, Lewisham bounced back on the attack and only minutes later Louie Theophanous broke down the right, cut back and found Richard Morgan outside the box to stab the ball home from 20 yards.
It was a physically and mentally draining encounter, and both players and coaches were pleased with the overall performance, the player’s ability to adapt and in particular the spirit shown by the squad when the odds were stacked against them. Post-match evaluations took place between icy plunge pool and jaccuzzi as fitness coach Django Lagnado endeavoured to reduce muscle fatigue with the second group game coming in less than 24 hours.