Match Report: Loko v Ladbroke Groovers

Sunday 15th October 2006
Barnesalona Cup

Lokomotiv Londres FC 5 v Ladbroke Groovers 0

Groovers no match for the Railwaymen!

This game was originally scheduled for a 10.30am KO, but a request from the Groovers to have this game played in the afternoon because of their players currently partaking in the Islamic yearly ritual of Ramadan, was kindly agreed to by Loko and this meant a nice lie-in and a late start.

A big squad assembled for todays game with 16 players available for selection, this posed a problem as the maximum substitutions allowed was 3 meaning a total of 14 players could be in the squad. Life was made easier as Steve Martin pulled a muscle in the warm up and Ismail agreed to play for the other side who only had 10 players.

Loko lined up with Julian in goal, a back four consisting of Pete and Rohan at centre back, Ivan left back and Nick right back. Dave H started on the right flank in midfield with Stephen on the left, Dale and Dave W started for the fifth game in a row in a central midfield partnership that is beginning to find a good understanding. The front two was the usual partnership of James and captain for the afternoon, Roger.

It was an unusually slow start by Loko with the ball being given away too easily in all areas of the park and mistimed tackles flying in left, right and centre. Groovers started brightly and made several forays into the steamers penalty area, without ever really threatening a goal, one good move ten minutes into the match forced Julian to make an excellent save and tip the ball over the bar. This was not the same Groovers that had lost to us 8-1 on the second weekend of the season, and it was evident that a few personal changes had brought a more competitive edge to their game.

A small disappointment to the day was the referee's performance, he had a poor game throughout, continually blowing his whistle and interrupting play, the game was not a dirty contest but the number of so-called fouls he blew for must have made the game seem otherwise. Half-Way through the first half Dale was booked for implying that there was two teams playing this afternoon, and it was a harsh booking to say the least, but if it made the referee feel important then I'm sure Dale doesn't mind.

Lokomotiv started to get into their stride and some determined midfield work by Dave W and Stephen down the left kept enabling James to get the ball in the hole behind Roger and set up a number of useful moves. Roger was twice played through and attempted to lob the keeper from 18 yards but both times was unable to get any purchase behind his effort and the keeper managed to scramble back and collect the ball.

It was some neat play in midfield by Dale that saw the ball head out to right back for Nick to play the ball down the line, Dave H took aim and swung a lovely ball in front of the keeper and behind the back four, and with everyone unsure of how to deal with it, Stephen (pictured above) ran in at the back post and a diving header saw the ball hit the back of the net. It was harsh on Groovers who had played well up until that point and didn't really deserve to go behind.

The goal seemed to spur Loko on and a 15 minute spell of heavy pressure followed, the ball was being played around really well but the end product didn't seem quite there. The half ended with a near miss for Ladbroke, they broke away from a Loko corner and some neat interchanging of passes sent the forward away down the left, he cut the ball back for the onrushing midfielder who hit a first time effort bound for Julian's top right hand corner. Julian showed why he was "Loko's number one, Loko's number one" when he diverted the ball over for a corner. Loko went in at the break with their lead intact.

Half-Time Score Loko 1 v Ladbroke Groovers 0

Julian made some half-time changes and insisted that his decision was not based on anyones performance, he was going to take some people off that usually didn't get subbed so that the other players could stake a claim for a regular start. Dave H was replaced by Adrian, ever present Ivan came off for Paul Kelly who went to right back with Nick switching to left back. The last substitution saw Stefan take the left wing slot in place of Stephen.

The team talk involved starting the second half the way we finished the first half, which was to close them down quickly, give them no time on the ball and harry them into mistakes. James was at them from the off and chased the ball down on three opponants and this forced them to kick the ball into touch on the half way line, it was a great start. This continued for the remainder of the second half and it was encouraging to see the fitness levels beginning to improve and more and more players still running in the last fifteen minutes.

The game seemed to open up early in the second half and Stefan and Adrian were providing a lot of width and getting much more space on the wings than in the first half. Dale and Dave W were getting much tighter to their midfield counterparts and giving them no time on the ball and this enabled Loko to win much more ball in the middle of the park.

A through ball by Dale 10 minutes into the second half saw Roger (pictured above) outmuscle his marker and run 30 yards into the penalty area and drill a right foot shot past the keeper into the bottom corner. It was only a few minutes later that the ball was worked out to Adrian on the right wing and a lovely ball across the face of goal was headed into the bottom corner for Rogers second goal of the game. That was pretty much the game over as a contest as the Groovers were struggling to make any headway into Loko's half as some excellent sliding tackles by Pete, Rohan and Paul Kelly stopped any danger before it appeared.

The fourth goal didn't take long in coming, again the ball was played across the midfield four out to Adrian on the right and another peach of a cross was dutifully despatched by Jame's (pictured right) head into the top corner, even though the keeper got a hand to it, the header was too powerful to be kept out.

Loko were now playing some good football, Stefan was working tirelessly down the left wing and was seeing a lot of the ball, playing it either down the line for Roger or inside to Dale and Dave W, and the keeper was being kept on his toes from through balls from the midfield.

The fifth goal was the best of the lot, the ball was played from the centre half out to the Paul K at right back who played it up to Adrian. Adrian knocked it inside to Dale who kept it rolling out to Dave W, he then played Stefan (pictured below) in behind the full back and Stefan curled the ball into the bottom corner. It was a superb goal and Loko's passing style was beginning to pay dividends.

Pete also managed too incur the referee's wrath with another harsh booking, he won the ball with a tackle on the ground, but his follow through also took a little of the man. It was a foul but a booking was unneccesary.

Loko kept their first clean sheet of the season and the defence is looking much stronger than in recent years, with only six goals conceded in five Barnesalona matches. Another good goalscoring performance sees us with a +5 goal average in the cup and +5 in the League. We now need to push on with some victories in the League starting against Auckland next weekend.

Final Score Loko 5 v Ladbroke Groovers 0

Team Line Up
1. Julian
2. Nick
3. Ivan
4. Pete [Y]
5. Rohan
6. Dave W
7. Dave H
8. Dale [Y]
9. Roger (c)
10. James
11. Stephen
12. Paul K (Replaced Ivan 45th Minute)
13. Adrian (Replaced Dave H 45th Minute)
14. Stefan (Replaced Stephen 45th Minute)
Fan - Steve M
Opposition - Ismail

Goals
Stephen (1)
25th Minute - A cross by Dave on the right went across goal and a diving header at the back post saw the ball sneak in the bottom corner.
Roger (2)
55th Minute - Roger held off the defender ran 30 yards and drilled it into the bottom corner.
60th Minute - A ball from Adrian on the right was headed into the bottom corner from six yards.
James (1)
65th Minute - A ball in from Adrian again was headed into the top corner.
Stefan (1)
85th Minute - A six man move saw Stefan in behind the full back to curl a beauty in the bottom corner.

Other Cup Results

Our Group
Barnes FC 2 v Celtic 2

Other Group
Real Madras FC 3 v Auckland 3
West Ken Kings 1 v Hendrix FC 0

Match Report provided by Dale Mellor. Manager Comments to follow.