On Saturday morning the Tigers welcomed the newly formed Sundon Park Lionesses (formerly Luton Celtic) to Fortress Vandyke, and what a game it was!
Before forming Sundon Park, the visitors (as Luton Celtic) are unbeaten and from who we have played this season, are by far the best footballing team in the league.
The game kicked off at a frantic pace, the Tigers flew out of the traps and the visitors played with their usual swagger probing the Tigers backline.
The Tigers needed to set down their marker and from a Sundon attack, Noomi intercepted a pass and drove forward feeding the ball through to Carey whose first time effort just went wide. This showed the visitors that the Tigers were not here to just make up the numbers.
Further end to end attacks saw both sides hitting the post, before the deadlock was finally broken by Sundon when their striker finished a loose ball from a corner. Just before the end of the first quarter and in a similar scenario to the first goal, a Sundon attacker again finished well to leave the home side scratching their head as to how they were two behind!
The second quarter saw the Tigers completely break their shackles and go from a side counter attacking and probing, to a side dominating! This shift was ignited, by (for me), the goal of the season so far. As in the first quarter Noomi broke down a Sundon attack and steamed forward beating two players before unleashing an absolute screamer into the top corner.
Now with their tails up, the Tigers swarmed all over of the visitors and it wasn’t long before the Tigers equalised, with another exquisite finish from Noomi!
The visitors, for all their quality, looked shell shocked. Every attack was shut down by Caitlin and Noomi, every midfield battle was dominated by Marni and Nyla and their playmaker at the back was harassed all game by Carey. They now knew that they were in a real game.
The half time whistle went with the game at 2-2, but if it had gone to the judges as in boxing, the Tigers were well up on the cards!
Unfortunately for the Tigers, half time came too soon and as we all know, football can be a cruel mistress! Two quick goals at the beginning of the 3rd quarter left the Tigers trailing again and with it all to do!
Going into the final quarter, the Tigers knew that they were still well in the match. But as with last week, Poppy again fell victim to the goalkeepers curse, after making a fantastic save at the strikers feet, the ball deflected to the feet of a Sundon player who had the easy task of rolling the ball into an empty net.
The final Sundon goal was an incredible free kick similar to Cristiano Ronaldo’s free kick against Portsmath. Chopping through the ball, the Sundon player unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
Although this report doesn’t detail any major talking points for the Tigers in the 3rd or 4th quarter, it doesn’t mean that the Tigers weren’t for large parts, the equals of their opponents. They were!
Regardless of the score line, it was a very evenly matched game. This opinion was shared by the opposing manager and supporters, who were both full of praise for the Tigers, even saying that Saturdays game was their closest and best game of the season.
To hear such positive feedback from the manger and supporters of a side like Sundon Park, is arguably the biggest compliment the girls could have been paid.
Well done girls, you are all fantastic!!!
GO TIGERS!!!!!
Pom: Nyla
Thanks to Coach Luke for the match report
