MK Irish 4-3 London Lions FC

Milton Keynes Irish survived a late comeback against London Lions to win 4-3 and secure their second home league win of the season. 

After their impressive away 5-2 win against Hadley, Milton Keynes Irish flew into a quick lead after eight minutes when George Shrieves took the ball down on his chest from 25 yards and left Nathan Bloohn no chance with a fierce volley that flew into the top left corner.

Shrieves nearly added to his goal tally when Ryan Smith’s recycled cross found the attacker but he could only stretch a shot wide, with Clinton Zawe chasing in behind him. 

Zawe’s defensive mistake allowed London Lions their first real chance of the match and Jack Mattey grabbed the chance with a powerful strike past Tom Ladyman to get the side back on level terms. 

New signing Simon Orphanides impressed on his home debut for the club and his well placed cross nearly earned him another assist but Shrieves could only direct his header over Bloohn’s crossbar. 

Orphanides won a freekick in a crossing position for the Irish and George Shrieves played a good cross into the box, which eventually bundled its way to Zawe, who poked a shot against the post. 

JJ Meadows saw his powerful curled effort pushed away for a corner, which was floated in towards Rev Kalek, who directed a powerful header against the crossbar. 

London Lions had time to hit the crossbar inside the first half when the ball dropped to Austin Lipman from ten yards out in a rare chance for the away side.

Milton Keynes retained their lead just before halftime when Zawe’s cross was headed only as far as Meadows, who swept home from ten yards for his first of the match.

After the restart, Shrieves picked up on a loose ball from a corner and the chance went begging when he hit the crossbar from close range inside the first five minutes of the second half. 

Terry Shrieves’ side continued to look dangerous and the chance looked like it had gone when Ryan Smith saw his shot saved, but the midfielder picked up the rebound and placed a well weighted cutback to Meadows, who fired a powerful strike into the roof of the net to put his side 3-1 up. 

MK Irish’s defensive mistakes continued to cause them grief and Lipman was afforded too much space inside the box before firing a cross into the six yard box, bouncing off Zawe and finding its way past Ladyman. 

Lipman completed the comeback for the London Lions after 62 minutes when a poor defensive clearance was redirected straight to their captain and he drilled a low volley into the bottom right corner to get the away side back on level terms. 

Although the away side didn’t create many chances after this, they began to dominate possession and it looked like the three points had been snatched from their grasp. 

That was until the 80th minute when George Shrieves found space inside the 18 yard box and laid the ball off to Ryan Smith who curled an excellent strike into the top corner to put them back ahead for the third time in the game. 

The closing stages became very nervy for MK Irish but they defended really well through an extra eight added minutes to come out on top in a very entertaining fixture.

Milton Keynes Irish will look to grab another three points next Tuesday when they face Northwood at Manor Fields where a win could see them climb as high as 12th.