Icarus Senior Squad v Lloyds Group

Icarus took on a very good Lloyds team at St George’s Park with a large squad.  This was a good opportunity for players to impress at a high level before the main part of the season starts.  Icarus began well and Alex Toogood went close to giving Icarus the lead when he latched onto a Dan Turner cross at the far post only to see the keeper make an outstanding double save.  Tom Somerville gave Icarus a deserved lead when he was brought down for a penalty and got up to slot it home himself.  Icarus continued to dominate and Jase Parr had a header well saved before Toogood brought another good save from the keeper.  Mark Bowden was brought into action when the Lloyds forward broke the offside trap and his shot was well saved.The second half started well as Mike Turrell had the ball into the back of the net in the first minute, only to see it disallowed with a controversial offside.  A few minutes later Turrell crossed and Toogood misjudged when a goal looked likely.  Sub keeper, Steve Ricketts pulled off a good save before punching clear the resulting corner.  With 20 minutes to go Dave Turnbull, who had tormented Lloyds all night, saw a beautiful curling shot from 20 yards somehow tipped over the bar.  Unfortunately for Icarus Lloyds, who always looked dangerous on the break scored 2 late goals to take the win.
 
Overall, it was a useful evening for Icarus who leant a lot and will build on this for the season to come.
.L