Report

This weekend saw SLS play in their first group game of the Leeds Red Triangle Champions League. Rather than travel to the far echelons of Eastern Europe to play on an artificial surface or face a late night kick off on the Continent, SLS travelled across Leeds to face Kirkstall Crusaders OB Reserves. And rather than finding a man called Yuri wearing a Ushanka (Russian fur hat) or Pedro driving his coach, SLS found a dog than could only be described as a horse. After much deliberation, Dan Kelly decided not to ride the horse-dog even though the photos would make for great viewing on Facebook. Greg Meade returned to the side after a 4 week absence on the other side of the pond and Josh McNee appeared with 2 future SLS players that could take the number of SLS McNee’s to 5. Another monumental pre-game moment would be Chris Callard’s 100^th appearance in an SLS shirt – the first player to achieve such a feat – and his 41^st game in a row.

After the predictable, ridiculously expanded, complicated draw from lots in Geneva or Monaco, the game was underway. SLS caught Kirkstall napping, much like Seaman was when Nayem scored from the halfway line. Dan Kelly hit a superb free kick aka Mikael Nilsson style for Gothenburg versus PSV in 1993 (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/866862-uefa-champions-league-the-11-best-free-kick-goals-in-champions-league-history#/articles/866862-uefa-champions-league-the-11-best-free-kick-goals-in-champions-league-history/page/12). Dan’s shot struck the bar and Adam Wain was on hand to almost perfectly head the ball home. To correctly judge the flight, Adam had to twist and angle his forehead from 2 yards. Just minutes later, SLS took a 2 goal lead as Josh McNee delivered a superb corner for Luke Wain to head past the keeper like David Fuster did for Olympiakos in midweek. SLS had Kirkstall on the ropes. One more goal would have seen off the team famous for its local horse-dog walkers. But an enforced substitution after a 5 minute stoppage in play due to the Kirkstall right back suffering ligament damage levelled the game. Kirkstall attacked like a former Communist, army-backed football team. They were strong and powerful and the right winger cut inside to curl one past the far post into a line of people queuing for bread. Kirkstall were back into the game just before half time as the ball was delivered by the right back for the striker to swoop low, running away and kicking the Heinekin and Ford sponsor boards. Jim Rosenthal was not impressed with the celebration.

The second half swang the way of Kirtkstall. Playing with 1 man up front, Kirkstall swamped the midfield. Oli was always quick off his line and pushed an effort over the bar, unlike Dida did at Elland Road with Lee Bowyer’s effort in September 2001. The one man strike force caused the SLS some problems and as he skirted his way on goal, Greg scythed him down. Calls for the red card could be heard from the tracksuit wearing CCCP manager but the referee issued a yellow only. The striker did manage to equalise as he jumped above Luke to head past Oli, this time jumping over the hoardings into the empty first 3 front rows. Greg lined up a shot to blast past the keeper like Stevie G did against Olympiakos to fire Liverpool beyond the group stage. However the effort ended up like an air shot version. SLS looked for the long ball like a traditional 80’s English football team, conserved of European football but were caught offside on one too many occasions. Adam found himself one on one with the keeper after a back pass went wrong but Adam shot straight at Buffon. Ben then wound his way through the Kirkstall defence to strike the ball wide. And after an array of blocked shots, Adam went clear of the defence and brought down inside the area. Calls of penalty in every language were called for, but nothing given. The language further continued from the mouth of Tim McNee, however his was more colourful than linguistic.

A decent start to their Champions League campaign, SLS will face stiffer competition from mainland Europe but remain in 6 cups. They’ll want to finish either top of their group to qualify for the knock phase, or bottom as to be exempt from any further cup competitions. Mark Viduka declined to comment why the Champions League TV coverage always referred to him as “Marko”.

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