Saturday 27th March
FC London Stadium, London. Att: 46,680.
FC London completed possibly the biggest comeback in BritLeague history, downing London Town 5-4 in another BritLeague classic to give the reigning champions their second league defeat.
The Megahoops found themselves 4-0 down at half-time after a dominant London Town performance.
The Blues are exponents of scoring early goals and today was no exception as John Carey netted his fourth goal of the campaign after only four minutes.
And Carey stunned the red and white faithful at the FC London Stadium into awful silence as his stunning free-kick put Town 2-0 up after only ten minutes' play.
Poor width from FCL allowed Town left-back Ashton Reid to run the full length of the pitch and he let rip a 20-yard left-footer which had no chance for 'keeper Christian Watson.
Many predicted the game was already over in the first half, as FCL old boy James Douglas made it four without reply, silencing the fans who called him Judas and booed every single touch he made of the ball.
In fact, at half-time, many FCL fans left the ground in disgust.
But despite the scoreline, FCL were far from out of it.
Clearly inspired by a heated team-talk by manager Brian Young, FCL began to take control of the game in the second half and on the hour mark, Hoops winger Craig Palmer broke through into the box and threw himself to the floor on Niko Tomic. However, despite strong arguments from the Town players, the referee decided it was a penalty despite replays showing that golden-haired wizard Palmer clearly dived on the Croatian wing-back.
Young England CSA World Cup prospect Palmer took it himself and he buried it past Marco Schuipers.
FC London were given another penalty after Australian striker Craig Cinoli ran through on goal, 1 on 1 with Dutch stopper Schuipers, with the Town keeper clearly bringing Cinoli down for a penalty. Cinoli scored past sub Jeff Carter making the score 4-2.
Suddenly, the crowd were right behind their home team, and midfielder Ryan Welch scored two within nine minutes, making it 4-4.
Clearly stunned by FCL's comeback, Town not only lost their momentum, but also their focus and Jeremy "Jezza" Constantinidis scored his first FCL goal after running past the three central defenders Juanpa, Daniel Perry and Shane Macdonald, one-two-ing with Brian Nixon and shooting through Carter's legs to give FC London the most improbable win ever.
Goals
FC London: Palmer 61' p, Cinoli 67' p, Welch 73', 82', Jezza 90'.
London Town: Carey 5', 10', Reid 33', Douglas 38'.
Bookings
FC London: Trujillo 35', Jezza 77'.
London Town: Tomic 65', Schuipers 66', Perry 87', Juanpa 89'.
