Barnesalona League
Lokomotiv Londres FC 0 v Sporting Lisbarnes 4
Sporting Show Loko How To Finish
It was a slow start, lack of shape and inabilty to keep possession that were crucial in deciding this fixture against the League leaders. Loko were on the back foot for the majority of the match, but did create chances that unfortunately lacked the power to really trouble the keeper.
The team started with Julian (pictured below) in goal, a back four of Ivan, Romeo, Steve and PJ, a midfield of Stephen, Pete, Andrea and Adrian, with Dale and James up front. The subs were Aidan and a reluctant Ismail who did not want to play due to a rib injury.
Loko were pressed back immediately and Sporting were playing the ball around confidently using the full backs and spreading the ball wide at every opportunity. They created a few long distance chances which were gathered by Julian or went wide, but missed the best opportunity when their man ran in from the angle and hit his shot against the crossbar.Dale changed it around and put himself in a holding midfield position but still wave on wave of attacks kept coming and with only one man up front it was difficult to create any chances. One chance that did appear was a header clear from the Sporting defence which Dale hit on the volley but couldn't trouble the keeper.
Lisbarnes eventually scored when the winger beat Ivan to the byline and drilled a ball across the six yard box and the striker just managed to get in front of Steve to score the games first goal. Moments later a rather lucky second followed when their attacking midfielder hit a shot from just outside the box and it was deflected by a defender into the bottom corner.
Half-Time Loko 0 v Sporting Lisbarnes 2
The gaffer spoke at half-time about keeping the shape and ensuring that one of the midfield three held the centre of the park and all three didn't get pulled wide because it allowed an easy ball inside every time with the defence exposed. He put PJ in midfield and dropped himself into defence to play alongside Steve.
Loko started the second half much better and were pressing Sporting much more giving them less and less time on the ball and the team were back in the match. Loko started stringing some good passages of play together.
James twice got in behind the defence but could only manage a sidefoot placement into the keepers arms when maybe a good hard strike may have been the better option, and shortly after Aidan ran through on goal but could again only find the keepers arms.
Sporting kept coming forward but were being effectively dealt with by Dale and Steve in central defence, the former sliding into challenges like a crazy fool and constantly trying to get the team movitated with plenty of chat, which we need from more people especially when we are behind and looking for inspiration.
PJ was then moved up front and got behind the defence, but with the ball not coming down as he would have liked, took a few kick ups and hit his shot over the bar. Loko were trying to keep the workrate up but it started to take its toll in the final fifteen minutes, Andrea coming off with cramp with ten minutes left.
Loko had battled superbly for 35 minutes but a sloppy own goal finally ended any resistance, when Steve played the ball back to Julian it was misjudged by the keeper and sailed past him slowly settling in the bottom corner. Moments later and a shot from outside the area sneaked past a despairing dive and the game was over.
It was a harsh scoreline in the sense that they were lucky to get the own goal in the second half that ended our resistance when 2-0 would have been more accurate. Although it was fair to say that the better team won.
Final Score Loko 0 v Sporting Lisbarnes 4
Manager Dale Mellor's comments:
"It was a difficult game today with us missing key personnel and playing the league leaders who have not lost a Barnesalona league match since joining the league at the beginning of last season.
I thought we were very disjointed in the first half, were struggling to hold the shape with players being pulled out wide and leaving them massive gaps to exploit down the middle of the park, which they were doing very effectively.
In the second half there were much more positives to come out of the match, as until their third goal in around the 80th minute, we were containing them excellently and had been in the game, man for man, tackle for tackle and had numerous one on one situations with the keeper that we just couldn't take. If one of those chances for James, Aidan, Pete or PJ had gone in then it would have been a different game. In the end the own goal by Steve for their third ended the contest.
It is important that we learn from today that we should be more talkative, hold our positions and not follow or watch the ball, and learn to keep possession much more because our lack of this today was the major difference. Let's keep the confidence we gathered last week and push on, as we have just played the leagues top three in the last three games."
Team Line Up
1. Julian
2. Romeo
3. Ivan
4. PJ
5. Steve
6. Andrea
7. Stephen
8. Pete (c)
9. Dale
10. James
11. Adrian
12. Aidan (Replaced Adrian 45th Minute)
13. Ismail (Replaced Andrea 80th Minute)
Man of the Match
It is a difficult decision today, as no one really got on top of their opponent and showed enough desire to change the game. James gets a mention for battling away gamely against four defenders up front by himself, but I'm giving the award to Julian for agreeing to play in goal and giving a decent performance whilst having a lot more to do than he should have.
Match Report by Dale Mellor.
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