Sunday 25th September 2005
London Football Association Sunday Junior Cup - Round 1
Europa FC 6 v Lokomotiv Londres FC 0
It was a weekend that all at the club was looking forward to, the chance to play in the London Football Association Sunday Junior Cup. The trip up to Enfield Wash in the very north of London took a while but everyone managed to get there on time.
It was again a changed line up from the previous two weeks with Alistair coming in at right back alongside Dale, Paul and Ivan. Pete took an unaccustomed position in centre midfield alongside Samer with Christophe on the left wing and a first start of the season for Dave on the right wing. Andreas was partnered up front with Nick making his debut for the club.
The game started fast and furious and it was evident from an early stage that Europa played together regularly and trained during the week, their play was fast and sharp and all their players looked comfortable on the ball and were able to find early passes with their wide men especially finding plenty of room. It was an even start early on and Loko were holding their own for the first fifteen to twenty minutes and even making space down the wings but failing to deliver that final ball.
The break through came for Europa after twenty minutes when they attacked with pace and a delicate little ball through for their centre forward found a gap through the middle, the appeals for offside by some members of the Loko defence were clearly incorrect, and he slotted the ball into the bottom corner. The second came five minutes later, a corner was swung into the far post where their captain jumped highest and headed the ball towards goal somehow finding its way past Ismail and two defenders on the line.
Loko kept venturing forward and Andreas was unlucky not to break past the last man on two occasions and Dave kept making some excellent runs through a gap on the right wing but unfortunately the Loko player with the ball on a number of occasions did not have the presence of mind to play that killer pass.
The third goal came when their tricky left winger made an excellent run down the left and played a ball into the centre where after two lucky deflections it landed seven yards out for them to toe-end it into the back of the net.
Half-Time Europa FC 3 v Loko 0
After a good half-time team talk from Julian everyone came out fired up and the aim was to push higher up the field and restrict them bringing the ball out from their defenders and building the play. It worked for ten minutes and we won our first two corners of the game which unfortunately came to nothing.
Ivan and Christophe were playing well down the left hand side and winning their personal battles but with our midfield pushing up to pressure them they started finding a lot of space in between the defence and midfield. They started to attack now with more fluency and Paul had to be strong and win some challenges on the edge of our 18 yard box and Dale on three or four occassions had to sweep up the long ball over the top when it looked like they were going to pull the trigger and put Ismail in goal under pressure.
Two of the three goals in this half were softly conceded but the first was well worked by Europa, who had a man run through unmarked from midfield, with the ball slipped through for him to run onto from behind the line of the defenders and he placed it into the bottom corner.
The fifth goal to be conceded was a mis-taken goal kick by Ismail and the defence was slow to react as the striker ran at the ball and took it on before hitting the back of the net. At this point a well worked four man passing move resulted in a ball being slipped through to Dave to hit the back of the net, only for it to be disallowed for off-side. Dave was adament that he wasn't afterwards and it did look a suspect call from the referee, who due to a calf injury was thirty yards behind play.
The sixth goal was the second in the half to come from poor defensive play, a corner was floated in under the crossbar and Ismail only managed to punch it upwards and as it came down the Europa attacking midfielder reacted first and hooked it in from a yard out.
The last ten minutes were played out and the defence were continually working overtime to keep the score down, with the centre backs having to win headers and put in tackles continously.
It was a good run out against a very good side, much better than we will have to play in the Barnesalona league, and if we can take the battling qualities we showed today and continue with a very positive and sporting attitude then we can hopefully bounce back against Munchen next Sunday afternoon.
Final-Score Europa FC 6 v Loko 0
Manager Julian Milne's comments:
"A performance not dissimilar to that against SW6. Against stronger teams our weaknesses are exposed. Most notably conceding soft goals which are symptomatic of our passivity in certain situations. However, a good experience and again some positives to be taken.
If we can look at ourselves and try and improve individually and as a team we will have the measure of most of the teams in the Barneslona league. Another good work out and nice to see another new player making his debut (Nick Rubins). It is vital we put in a solid performance against Munchen this Sunday and play with a bit more pride.
Man of the match: Dale - solid at the back and as usual prepared to shout and battle. We need more of it throughout the team."
Team Line Up
1. Ismail
2. Alistair
3. Ivan
4. Dale
5. Paul (c)
6. Pete
7. Dave
8. Samer
9. Nick R
10. Andreas
11. Christophe
No Substitutes.
Match Report provided by Dale Mellor.
