Barnesalona League
Lokomotiv Londres FC 0 v Celtic 4
The unbeaten league run had really started to weigh heavily round the necks of the Loko players going into Sunday’s game, and they duly threw off the yoke with a flourish and a shout for freedom. The rain had transformed pitch one into a ridiculous bog; direct football was on the cards for Loko’s first clash with Celtic since last season. The Irish had been on an even longer unbeaten run which saw them go top, a run that had been brought to an abrupt halt the previous week by a rampant 10-man SW6 - the team nominally in Loko’s sights in 4th place. The railwayticketofficemen, fresh from their heroic victory over WKK, should have scented blood. Instead a weakened eleven “scented” a tidy thrashing.
Loko lined up with several key players missing; in fact, for the second time this season, there were only eleven diehards facing the elements. Ismail played keeper with Ivan at left back and Paul in the centre. In the absence of both Pete and Dale, Rohan moved into the centre to reprise the ’02 vintage centre-half pairing. Paul Kelly dropped to right back to complete the defence. Doug and Jules linked up in the engine room. Adrian prepared to unleash hell down the right wing and Ali settled into his blocks on the left like an Olympic sprint star. Up front Roger Barnes-Barrington led the line with Christophe in orbit around him. With Bryan also absent there wasn’t a soul to cheer on the lads! This must surely account for at least 3 of the Celtic goals.
The match was played in a good spirit, though the football was of an unremarkable quality. Loko started slowly but not at the customary snail’s pace. A good effort from the cobbled together back four restricted Celtic to a few long-range efforts. Unfortunately this didn’t stop them from scoring. After 20 minutes big Eddie muscled his way into a bit of space thirty yards out. Just as the Loko net closed on him he pinged it into the top corner. There was nothing ‘smail could have done. The second was a bit more embarrassing, though, as a shot from twenty-five yards went straight at the keeper but the atrocious muddy conditions and threadbare gloves conspired to smuggle the ball through his hands and into the net.
The best bit of the match came on the half-hour mark; Paul was penalized (somewhat harshly) for holding a Celtic bhoy as they tussled to get under a high ball into the box. The referee saw fit to award a spot kick – but where was the spot? Lost in a giant pool of mud was the answer, and the ref and Eddie spent about five minutes trying to guess where to place the ball. When the Celtic hit man eventually ran up and struck the visible portion of the ball a huge spray of murky water briefly obscured the action from view. The wave subsided just in time for the ball to be seen landing over by the changing rooms – the score remained at 2-0.
But not for long. Just before half time Celtic scored a third and more or less sealed the points. A long ball was sent over down the Loko left and the man chased (strong shout for offside) the ball and brought it under control (strong shout for handball) before squaring it to the unmarked attacker on the penalty spot who sent it neatly into the bottom right of the goal. Loko went into the break 3-0 down but feeling slightly hard done by.
Half-time Loko 0 v Celtic 3
At half time Jules simply encouraged the players to get back out and enjoy their football; there was no real pressure to get a result after the draws with Barnes and Hendrix had put paid to any hope of getting in the mix for the title. With nobody on the bench all he could do was reshuffle the pack a bit; Dougie switched to the right and Adrian moved into the centre. A round of half time oranges refreshed the players, a lot of whom hadn’t seen fruit in some time.
Loko tightened their belts in the second period; the pitch had dried out slightly and a light breeze and downhill slope aided the players as they tried to battle back into the match. Adrian and Paul Kelly in particular put in plenty of tackles as the team closed Celtic down. A series of attacks gifted the boys a series of corners, none of which seemed remotely dangerous. Loko’s creative outlet, Roger B-B, ran purposefully into the channels but for once the opposition seemed to have enough pace at the back to force him wide.
Mid-way through the second half Celtic sealed the deal with their fourth goal. The winger beat Rohan to the ball on the by-line and crossed low into the area. The Celtic attackers were allowed to pass the ball around a hopelessly static Loko defence and into the net.
Loko’s best chance of a consolation came towards the end. Roger powered down the channel again and sent a looping cross over towards Chris at the far post; unfortunately it fell unkindly for our boy and he didn’t know whether to kick it or head it, and ended up just colliding with it and watching as it dribbled out of play.
Celtic had two further efforts ruled out for offside, both of which were pretty dubious in this reporter’s eyes. The second of these proved to be the last action of the game. The handshakes seemed to be very enthusiastic and, despite the pitch and score line, it had been a very enjoyable game to play in. As a further silver cloud, the news came through that Barnes had lost 9-0 to Munchen and SW6 had been held to a 4-4 draw by rapidly improving Said, meaning that the defeat changed little in terms of our league position relative to the teams around us. Good show! This week: our game in hand against Madras. Hot Stuff!
Final Score Loko 0 v Celtic 4
Manager Julian Milne's comments:
"A poor result and the score line was a fair reflection of Celtic's dominance. I am not going to have a go at any of the players though because we had 11 guys out there who had turned up to play for Loko and without them we wouldn't have had a team.
That is Sunday league football. One week you are thinking about who can play where and what the other teams' weaknesses are, and the next you just want to get 11 people on a pitch.
It was wet, it was muddy, it was miserable, and with so many missing players it was just a question of getting a team out to play and taking it from there. An improved second half performance lent the score line a more lenient air than it had threatened to be at half time.
Man of the match: Rohan (Pictured)"
Team Line Up
1. Ismail
2. Paul K
3. Ivan
4. Rohan
5. Paul D (c)
6. Doug
7. Adrian
8. Julian
9. Roger
10. Christophe
11. Alistair
Match Report provided by Rohan Tesh.
