Mum’s The Word – Respect

It was a great honour today for Sheen Lions to welcome members of the Surrey FA and WSYL officials to Palewell Park to host their Respect Awareness Day. It demonstrates that all the hard work Sheen Lions puts in to apply the right principles in staging matches is increasingly being recognised. Asking boys to shake hands, making sure that spectators are on the correct side of the pitch and behind the spectators lines and above all that the upmost respect is given BY ALL to match officials and opponents IS ALL PART of running a successful football club. Sheen Lions has been positioned as a benchmark in Surrey for best practice. Sarah has driven these principles for many years and deserves great credit and WE just need to keep ensuring we continue to deliver the highest standards possible.

It was also a day where respect had a different meaning – MOTHERS DAY. A day where we can all appreciate the tolerance and support we all get at home whether it be muddy boots and kit, lifts to matches, passionate love and support for our every move. A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THE MUMS and WIVES. Happy Mothers Day from Sheen Lions.

On the pitch the football continued. 5 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws excluding our younger groups. Simon’s Under 7’s played their second consecutive game and delivered an outstanding performance against Barnes Eagles. Both Julian and Eric’s U8’s also had impressive and successful days.

In the leagues three teams – Mel’s U12’s Lions, Trevors U14 Lions and John’s U18 Lions have very good chances to win medals in their leagues. Martin and Michael’s U10 Lions in addition have a mathmatical chance, although it looks to be a very long shot. As such, todays results were crucial.

Mel’s U12’s had a very exciting game winning 4-3 at Carshalton with the prolific Nils R scoring another hat-trick. This keeps the pressure up on Ascot their rivals for 2nd place. Trevor’s U14 Lions faced the unbeaten Junior Bees and came away with a very important 2-2 draw. Three teams in the U14 Div 2 are neck and neck well ahead of the pack and a draw was a good result to keep the U14’s in line for 2nd place. John’s U18 had an excellent 4-2 win at Corinthians helped by a Matthew H hat-trick which means 4 points in their last two games will be enough for medals as Runners Up.

Bernie’s U12 Pride faced a tough Ballers side in their last game. Unfortunately a 5-0 defeat was not the result they were looking for BUT must take great credit for finishing 3rd in the league. A massive improvement from last season. David L’s U10 Pride also finished the season in style moving into the top half of the league with a 3-0 win over Ashford. Another example of a team that has really stepped up this year. WELL DONE to Bernie and David and their respective coaches TREVOR and FREDDY.

After the success of last weeks County Cup semi final victory, Michael and Mark’s U15 Lions had another outstanding win against a top 3 PE team winning 3-1 v Kingswood Falcons. Dean and Sam’s U15 Pride shared the spoils with Chertsey in a double header winning the first game 1-0 and then losing the 2nd game 3-0. Three points a piece was a good reward for the day and better than two draws!

Rick’s U14 Pride had one of the best results of the day holding the run away leaders in their U14 Div 3 league Whitton, who had beaten them twice before, to a 3-3 draw. Other teams faced table toppers today had slightly less success. Jon and Alastairs U11 Lions lost 4-1 at home to Staines and Brian’s U16 Lions went down 3-1 to Eagles. Nick and Gavin’s Under 9 Pride finished their season with a 3-1 defeat to table toppers Surrey Predators. In their first competitive season, Nick and Gavin also deserve great credit as the team have played with great spirit and the boys have improved considerably. A number of narrow defeats have not gone in their favour. Remember this is season 1 of perhaps 10 seasons so I’m sure they will gain from the experience and develop significantly next season.

Terry’s U13 Lions lost a very tight game 3-2 to AFC Walcountians but still can get a top half finish albeit the last game is against this years U13 Div 2 Champions Carshalton Athletic. Terry’s team play football with great spirit and quality so it is a chance to go out, enjoy themselves and finish the season in style.

TEAM OF THE DAY – Tough this week. I will give it to the two U14 sides Rick and Trevor – Lions and Pride for two draws that were either impressive or important for different reasons. WELL DONE TO THEM.

U14 Pride
Joint Team of The Week
U14 Lions
Joint Team of The Week

Finally, football was put in perspective with the tragic case of Fabrice Muamba. A young man with incredible talent, passion and commitment. Everyone at Sheen Lions prays for your recovery.