For the first time in its ten-year history, the Birmingham Lions have lost at xpLosION. After a very tight game, the Bath Killer-Bees were victorious with a score line of 10-7.
It was a shaky start from the Lions, as they almost fumbled the kick-off leaving them deeply entrenched in their own half. To their credit they completed an impressive 25-yard pass for a great first down, but were held on the 40-yard line forcing them to concede possession with a punt early on. Unfortunately, the snap lobbed the hapless punter meaning the Bees were able to launch an attack from just thirty-yards out.
Luckily, the Lions’ defence stood imperious, restricting the Bees to just three points with a successfully converted field goal, leaving the score at 3-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same from the Lions’ offence, failing to get the snap right at crucial moments, wasting precious yards. The defence however kept the team in the game as they again forced the Bees to kick a field goal, which narrowly missed. The half-time scoreboard read 3-0 to the visitors. Birmingham knew they were in a game now.
Thanks guys! Great HT performance from the @BhamPussycats! pic.twitter.com/5nyGjyQvEG
— BurnFM Sport (@BurnFM_Sport) November 12, 2016
Big shout out to the amazing Pussycats who once again put on an amazing show
The third quarter was the Lions’ best. They were finally able to get some rhythm in their galvanised offence and pressurised the Bees’ defence. Their momentum soon paid off as they scored their first, and what proved to be their only, touchdown of the game. The defence then came out and did a stunning job of preventing the Bees from responding, blocking another field goal attempt, The third quarter ended with the score line looking more promising at 7-3.
However, the fourth quarter is when all of the Lion’s hard work came undone. Sammy Lee Baker was running the ball fantastically well from the all-important QB position, but one error unfortunately cost his team so dearly. After he was pressed on a passing play, he scrambled around ten yards back trying to find a pass. In hindsight taking the inevitable sack would have proved less costly, but an ambitious off-balanced pass was intercepted superbly by the Bees’ linebacker in open field and resulted in an easy touchdown. The Bees converted the subsequent field goal, leaving the Lions trailing by three points. Birmingham looked to have secured the comeback in the most dramatic fashion when they got the ball just a yard short of the Lions’ end zone only for the clock to agonisingly run out before they could mount that final push.
Had they had 10 more seconds on the clock, they would have surely won the game. All the Lions can do now is regroup and recover. Regardless of the heartbreaking result, once again the Lions put on an amazing spectacle for the thousands of fans who turned up.
Check out the amazing commentary of xpLosION by our own @jacksimpkin9 and @MattieBoy360 for @GuildTelevision now! https://t.co/kZq4OhtwLi
— BurnFM Sport (@BurnFM_Sport) November 14, 2016
Relive all the drama with our friends at Guild TV
