DAYTON, Ohio -- The Dayton Dutch Lions FC lost 1-0 tonight against the Los Angeles Blues. The game winner was scored by Blues player Russell who got a shot off in a scrimmage in the box in the 2nd half.
Another close loss for Lions at home
The Dutch Lions got off well in the first five minutes with two breakaways by Joel DeLass and Eli Garner, the fast left winger who got his first start of the season with Akeem Priestley not found fit enough to play against his old team. Just before shooting they were blocked by an LA defender though. After the first 5 minutes the Lions dropped back a little leaving LA to built up from the back but with the center crowded LA tried to play the long ball to either the left wing or forward Dike, on loan from MLS Portland Timbers. But the Lions defense did not give anything away and kept the Blues far from the box besides one time where Dike used his strong body well and turned from Nixon Dias to face goalie Matt Williams. Before being to take a shot the ball was blocked but left open for a clear shot by a LA forward and former DDL player George Davis IV, that Williams saved beautifully. That was about the only real chance the first half with LA preventing the Lions from playing their favorite building up from the back game putting pressure on immediately making Williams play the long ball constantly. The Lions had the last chance of the first half when Bardsley got through on the right side but he shot the ball wide.
In the second half the Lions had the best chance sofar when a free kick from Nixon Dias went through and the ball came to the feet of wide open Bardsley who was one on one with the goalie but he saved his shot from 10 yards out. Right after that LA got even a better chance when Dike outrun Copier on the left side and went into the box when Copier made a slide tackle to make it a corner kick. However, the referee decided to give a pk to LA and last weeks events seemed to repeat leaving the team astonished by the call. But captain Allan Russell hit the ball over the crossbar. Five minutes later however he got his revenge when a scrimmage in the box resulted in a shot on goal that bounced off the hands of Williams in goal.
Dayton pushed everything forward the last 10 minutes and almost got the equalizer when Joel DeLass had a shot from 20 yards that goalie Abedzadeh was able to out his hand on in the lower right corner also hitting the post to making it a corner kick. DDL got 5 corner kicks straight in the last 4 minutes of stoppage times but did not create any real danger anymore leaving the team disappointed with another loss that should have been a tie at least.
Coach Ivar van Dinteren commented on the loss: “again we almost did not give anything away but as long as we don’t finish ourselves we will not win. We only got scored on 5 times in five games but on the other hand we only scored one so we cannot win games if we don’t start scoring.”
The Dayton Dutch Lions FC record is now (0-2-3). They play the next two games on the road with back to back games against Rochester Rhinos (May 18) and Harrisburg City Islanders (May 19) before returning at home to play the Rochester Rhinos again May 26 at 7.30pm. Tickets for the game and the season can be purchased at www.dutchlionsfc.com.
Dayton Dutch Lions News Release -- www.dutchlionsfc.com