MK City Belles v Lions
This Saturday saw the Lions play their first game of 2025. With the Christmas break and cancelled fixtures it had been over a month since the Lions last played, knocking out Woburn and Wavendon Clarets in the League cup. The opponents this week were MK City Belles, who, having lost all of their 9 games played so far this season, had a point to prove.
City Belles started the game strongly and put the Lions under pressure from the whistle. A strong tackle from Sienna to stop an attacker’s bursting run, and tough battling from Evelyn deep inside her own half were required to ease the pressure on the Lions defence. Despite this strong defensive play, Belles were able to get off a decent shot just wide of the post.
At last Lions were able to advance higher up the pitch with a run by Amber down the left wing. Her ball inside to Gracie was knocked onto Evelyn in the middle of the park, but a Belles defender was able to make the challenge.
Moments later, a big throw-in from Bella down the right sent Tehila through on goal, but a speedy defender was able to get back in time to make a tackle before a shot could be fired.
Despite enjoying more of the possession, Lions’ play was a little scrappy. Perhaps it was the long break, but the team just couldn’t seem to find their passing rhythm, opting to clear the ball away quickly rather than pass their way through their opponents. However, a clever reverse pass from Evelyn to Bella set up another attacking chance. But the resulting cross was cleared away from danger.
Having been struggling to get hold of the ball for much of the first half, Belles broke away, but Lauren was quick to the edge of her box and collected the ball before the attacker could reach it.
Belles continued to keep Lions pegged back in their own half. A big clearance from Aria soon found its way back and Heidi needed to track back and put in a strong challenge to win a throw. More Belles pressure resulted in a corner which was cleared by Georgia. But again, the Lions forward players were so deep that there wasn’t an outlet for the team to push on up the pitch.
Some nifty skill from Amber enabled the winger to beat the Belles midfielder before cutting the ball inside to Flo. The ball was passed onto Bella who almost broke through Belles’ back line, but more tough defending broke the attack down. However, Bella was back in the action moments later with an intelligent ball down the line to Heidi. With some good space in front of her, the Lions winger was able to pull away from her marker and get in a decent cross which found Amber at the edge of the box. She fired off a shot but it was well blocked by the outstretched leg of a defender.
Minutes before half time, a Belles attacker broke through Lions’ defence and was judged to have been fouled in the box resulting in a penalty. The well struck spot kick hit the back of the net giving Belles a 1 nil lead just before the half time break.
The second half played out in much the same way as the first. Belles started strongly with some early pressure. Some excellent tracking back by Kiera, a strong footed clearance by Freya and another strong challenge by Kiera were needed in quick succession to prevent further damage.
Again, the attacking players of Lions found it challenging to get higher up the pitch, so when the ball was won back, play was very congested. Finally, Amber was able to break away with the ball, working it well down the left, but unfortunately the resulting cross didn’t make it to a Lions player.
Georgia stood firm and won the ball back after Belles tried to counter attack but again, Lions were unable to make good use of the possession.
At last, Lions seemed to be in with a clear chance when a through ball sent Tehila one on one with the keeper. But the Belles shot stopper pulled off a brave save to deny the Lions striker and the resulting shot by Evelyn from the rebound fizzed wide of the post. Moments later it was Bella who was through on goal with just the keeper to beat. Her clever footwork enabled her to take the ball around the goalie, but the angle for the shot was tricky and her effort hit the post.
Despite a valiant effort by Lions to find an equaliser, it was Belles who scored next after a quick counter attack caught the Lions defence off guard and the resulting goal sealed the victory for the home side.
Tehila struck the woodwork one final time in the dying seconds to rub salt into the Lions’ wounds – today just wasn’t meant to be their day.
This week’s player of the match: Kiera.
