Next up – London Lions
Saturday, 20th December at Wodson Park, SG12 0UQ.
Pitching in Southern League, Divison One (Central); kick off 3pm.
Admission
Admission (card preferred but cash accepted) – Adults £10, Concessions £5, under 14 free with paying adult otherwise £2.50.
Printed programme on the gate for £2.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at https://warefc.co.uk/product/ware-v-london-lions/
Our opponents
By contrast to last week’s visitors, London Lions are a comparatively young club. Founded in 1995 as Malex they joined the lower reaches of the Herts County League but have made steady progress since then to reach Step 4. The final stage was completed with a Spartan South Midlands League play-off final win over Wormley Rovers. The club changed its name to London Lions in 1999 and changed again in the new century adding Maccabi as a prefix though they still play as just London Lions.
Lions have yet to go beyond the first qualifying round of the FA Cup and FA Trophy. They have however reached the fourth round of the FA Vase on two occasions.
Their ground features several well maintained pitches to provide football for a number of sides of different age groups through the season.
Form guide
There was a touch of inconsistency about the Lions’ record at the beginning of the season. A 3-0 home win over promotion chasing Barton Rovers and a 2-2 draw away to Biggleswade are warnings of their ability but a 4-0 home defeat to Marlow suggested they have vulnerabilities. They didn’t pick up a point away from home until early November in that draw at Biggleswade but since then they have won three games on their travels. These were at Northwood by 5-2, Rayners Lane by 2-1 and another by the same score in their local derby at Hadley last weekend. Then in midweek they won at home to Welwyn Garden City by 3-2. They’re on a good run.
The hard game against Thame last Saturday has told us what we already knew, that there are still good teams further down the table. It looks as though the Lions give strength to that view. We continue to struggle with injuries but whilst he looks to improve the depth of the current squad Paul Halsey remains confident in the players he will select for this match. That will include latest signing Josh Hutchinson from Potters Bar Town who is expected to form a strike partnership with Reece Beckles-Richards.
Previous Meetings
This is just the third meeting between the clubs but not the Lions’ first visit to Wodson Park. We were drawn to meet them in last season’s Herts Senior Cup winning 4-1 against what those present thought was a side with great potential. Ike Okwusogu scored two of our goals with Johnny Allotey and Gabriel Chapps sharing the other two. We gained another win, this time in the league, back in August though again Lions looked good from the start. We took some time to get into the game but eventually Sami Moutawafiq, Rechan Esprit and Sam Mayuma scored in a 3-0 victory. The report of that match is at https://warefc.co.uk/london-lions-0-ware-3/
Commentary
Pete and Symon will be at the game if you can’t make it yourself. They’ll be broadcasting commentary from 2.55 at https://90minuteslivefootball.mixlr.com/events/4689074
Match officials
Our referee for this match is Joseph Karram. The assistant referees are Oliver Hunphreys and Daniel Statham. Remember, they’re givimg up their last Saturday of Christmas shopping too.
