It was a blustery morning at Stanford's home ground at the billet. All the parents gathered round and most of us tried to keep off the subject of European football which we managed by having a friendly dig at our committee member mark [ he must really look forward to this every week ] about the new kit which we picked up on Saturday from a hard working Jason, Tracy and Karren.

 The lions were going through their warm up routine with den and Jamie.

We had an official looking ref as we did last season to get us under way.

The starting line up was as follows, Lewis in goal, josh and Tommy in defence, James in the heart of midfield with Callum to his right and Frankie to his left, Dave the demon was our lone striker. The ref got us under way with signet kicking with the wind, signet had the kick-off and passed the ball back to josh who put the ball out to the wing, just as last week the game went from one half to the other as both teams tried to find out each others weaknesses. We had some good play from josh in defence who calmly took the ball away from a Stanford attacker, he slotted the ball through to davey who tried a neat flick over the keeper but the keeper was wise to it and managed to get his body behind it. The spilt ball was kicked away by a stanford defender right into the path of Frankie who put in a great shot from way outside the box only to see the keeper punch it behind for a corner, as usual demon Dave put in a pinpoint cross only to see it headed away by a Stanford defender. The match started to gather pace and Stanford started to pressure our defence but the partnership at the back held firm with both josh and Tommy dealing with all that they could throw at us. Stanford had one good chance to score with the ball played square across the box and a stanford player hit it full power at the goal but Lewis was more than equal to the challenge and produces a great diving save to turn the ball away for a corner.

Richard had come over to watch john in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, hardly the sort of thing to be worn on 1st October, he was punished for this when the heavens opened and was duly soaked, Suzanne offered to get him a brolly out of the car but wanting to act tough he said no as the rain was cascading down his face I'm sure he regretted it. The ref blew for half time and the lads came off for a drink and a regroup.

The second half kicked off with one change Adam the terrier coming on for Callum who again this week had a great game. Adam slotted into the midfield well passing and tackling with his usual confidence, once again the midfield combined well spraying the ball about as they have been taught in training. Davey made a few runs down the wings tormenting the opposition into bringing him down. Late in the half Tommy came off for john and Ashley came on for Frankie, again as last week we battled well and were unlucky not to score with shots going wide. Stanford counter attacked well but were stopped in their tracks by josh and john who battled well to the end. We are lucky to have at least 4 strong defensive players to choose from each week and whoever is picked the opposition find it hard to score against. Ashley only had a few minutes to impress and put together some good moves with James, davey and Adam, James as always never gave up chasing and fighting for the ball.

All in all a draw was a fair result for both sides, it could have gone either way if it wasn't for the two goalkeepers pulling off some fine stops. Thanks to Stanford for a good game and we look forward to the return match at home, after all the hullabaloo over the new kit we didn't get a chance to wear it as it clashed with Stanford's colours, maybe we will wear them for the return match at home as long as the colours dont fade. One last thing I would like to thank Darren for putting on a great display and showing us what he can do with the ball and I would like to ask Frankie to take him down the park and show him how it should be done.

WELL DONE LIONS STILL UNBEATEN