Barnesalona League
Lokomotiv Londres FC 1 v South Auckland Rangers 3
Loko rocked up at Barnes station for their first match of the season at Barnes Common, hoping that the change of location would put an end to their recent run of misfortune. They were to be sorely disappointed. Unbelievably no one had forgotten about the clocks going back, and almost everyone was on time. Loko were looking for revenge over Auckland after their injury-time equaliser last weekend, and were encouraged by the healthy turnout that meant a strong eleven could be fielded for the second week in a row.
Jules took up his place between the sticks, and Rohan and Ivan once again started as full-backs. With Paul away and Nick held up, Ali and Pete were on hand to step into the breach at centre-half. Dale, acting captain in Paul’s absence, prepared to break up the Kiwi attacks in the holding midfield role. Clint, taking over the playmaker mantle from Aubrey, partnered him in the centre. Adrian returned to the starting eleven at right midfield, and Christophe replaced Stephane on the left wing. New boy Paolo partnered Andreas up front, with Johan and later Nick on the bench.
Jules’ game plan was thrown out of the window when it emerged that Auckland had changed from the 4-5-1 formation they used last week to a standard 4-4-2, in order to accommodate the return of their hot-headed guy. Well I know they have several hot-headed guys, but this one was the hothead with the afro. You know the one I mean – the one that took a swing at Ivan from the ground. Let’s call him… Appleby. In any case the idea of having Ali man-mark the other tricky striker and Pete sweep up (with the full backs man-marking the wingers) was ditched in favour of a general zonal marking system, counteracting the free roles given to the Auckland forwards.
The system seemed to work well; with the midfield dropping well to cover Loko restricted Auckland to just two efforts on goal in the first half, and both of those from free kicks. Loko meanwhile enjoyed the lion’s share of attacking possession and created the first good chance; Andreas controlled Adrian’s cross and finished well but the effort was ruled out for offside. Dale was bossing the centre and charging through like a rampaging rhino. Twice he went clear but both times the Auckland defence forced him wide and he couldn’t quite hit the target. Clint, Paolo and Christophe linked up well and stretched the opponents’ back line but clear-cut chances were in short supply.
Meanwhile Auckland had their first chance – whilst challenging for a header with two Auckland players Rohan clattered their captain (a decent fellow) near the edge of the box. Rohan went to help him up but was pushed away by Appleby. The resulting free kick was in a dangerous position but deflected off the wall and well wide. Soon afterwards another Auckland player was injured, coming off worse after fouling Andreas. Play was stopped for about 10 minutes while he received attention but eventually it was decided that he needed to go to hospital. Loko only created one clear chance before the break. Rohan intercepted a pass on the right and fed Andreas down the wing. He jinked past his marker and sent a peach of a cross over into the path of Christophe, who unfortunately couldn’t quite control it at pace and put his effort over the bar.
Then, in yet another cruel twist of fate, the last kick of the half resulted in Auckland nicking the lead. Another foul, this time further out, saw the Loko wall line up as before. This time the free kick was curled over the wall and in a confusion of bodies the ball was deflected past the man on the post. A kick in the teeth for our brave lads and no mistake.
Half-Time Loko 0 v South Auckland Rangers 1
The ref had blown for half time immediately after the goal went in so Jules had no more than a minute to revise his half-time talk. For the second week in a row he was pleased with the effort and commitment, and reminded Loko that they in no way deserved to be behind. He urged the players to continue making the triangles in midfield and playing Andreas in behind. Johan came on for Christophe at left wing.
Loko battled hard from the restart and the match soon became a ferocious physical contest. Dale and Pete spurred the team on vocally, and both of them led by example, winning headers and 50-50s in the middle of the park.
The nastier side of Auckland/Dave Argyle came out as the tempo rose, with several flashpoints. Of course Appleby was at the centre of things, squaring up to Clint, which led to various other players getting involved (including a mad Paul Richardson dash from Jules to break things up). Culprit number two was that guy who looks like a peanut who always used to annoy Roger, who was yellow carded for deliberately clipping Paolo with his studs. He was lucky to stay on the pitch as the referee was the only person not to see him do the same thing to Jules a minute later.
Anyway Lokos’ pressure eventually paid off when Andreas’ shot was saved and Paolo (pictured above) managed to turn the rebound into the roof of the net to equalise. For a moment it was sooo sweet and Loko looked certain at this point to go on and take the points, as they continued to attack with renewed vigour. Sadly Auckland were able to capitalise immediately on the counter attack. The other small Auckland striker, from Plymouth apparently!?!!, wriggled free near the penalty spot; despite scuffing his shot he had done enough to smuggle it under Jules and the ball bobbled agonisingly in despite Ali’s frantic chase to cover. Within a minute Auckland were 3-1 up as a long ball bounced through the middle and the same little guy profited from hesitancy in the Loko ranks to nip through, this time finishing smartly into the bottom left corner.
The wind was completely knocked out of Lokos’ sails, but they gradually picked themselves up again in an attempt to get back in the match. There was a lot of huffing and puffing but with little end product as once again Loko showed a lack of fitness in the latter stages. Nick came on for Clint, who had picked up a knock. Johan managed a couple of runs into the area from the left, one of which resulted in a shot but the keeper gathered comfortably. Auckland defended in numbers and always managed to snuff out the final pass.
They themselves only had one more chance, with the little guy missing out on his hat trick when he shot too close to Jules through a crowded area and the manager got down well to stop it on the line. Loko’s best chance to force a nervy end to the game came when a slick move ended with Adrian placing a superb cross on Paolo’s head at the far post but the striker couldn’t quite direct it. The final minutes passed without further incident, and when the final whistle blew the players couldn’t understand how they had managed to come off second best yet again. Bring on Barnes! We’re sick of playing Munchen and Auckland!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Final Score Loko 1 v South Auckland Rangers 3
Manager Julian Milne's comments:
"Although the results are not going our way at the moment, I am not at all discouraged. Whenever a new manager takes over at this level there is always a high turnover of players and it was inevitable that it would take a while for the team to find its feet again.
I feel we have recruited some really decent players; Peter, Stephane and Clint to name but three, and we just need to gel a bit. The performances are improving and I think the last two games we played well. The players did what I asked them to do and we are becoming more rugged and determined. All our recent games have been very tight and we just need to be a bit more ruthless and aggressive to turn the tide, and we will.
We are yet to play the teams in the lower half of the league and I think when we do we will begin to see the improvements we have made become increasingly tangible. I want to recruit a good striker to play alongside Andreas as I believe we don't have anyone who can play week in week out in that position as yet. This is another area we can strengthen and I will be putting out adverts this week.
Heads up guys, a result against Barnes on Sunday and we can start climbing up the league.
Man of the Match: Peter - his best game in a loko shirt yet, commanding at the back."
Team Line Up
1. Julian
2. Rohan
3. Ivan
4. Alistair
5. Pete
6. Dale (c)
7. Adrian
8. Clint
9. Paolo
10. Andreas
11. Christophe
12. Johan (Replaced Christophe 45 Minutes)
13. Nick (Replaced Clint 80 Minutes)
Goals:
Paolo (1)
70th Minute - Andreas took on his man on the edge of the box and fired in a shot which was blocked by the sliding defender, the loose ball was hammered into the roof of the net.
Match Report provided by Rohan Tesh.
