Match Report: Celtic v Loko

Sunday 23rd November 2008
Barnesalona League

Celtic 6 v Lokomotiv Londres FC 2

IN THE WORDS OF SVEN: “FIRST HALF GOOD, SECOND HALF NOT SO GOOD”

Today’s match between Lokomotiv and Celtic was preceded by a flurry of texts from a few players concerned that they might get out of bed and travel to Barnes on a freezing Sunday morning to find the game had been called off. Thankfully, despite the snow forecast, the pitch was fine with the added bonus of the dead leaves having been cleared. But, in keeping with the weather conditions, which varied from freezing cold to downpours and bright sunshine after the match, the Lokomen’s performance went from one extreme to the other.

Lokomotiv started well, albeit not in scintillating fashion, with the defence, midfield and attack crafting chances right from the word go. After ten minutes, Andrea sprinted decisively past several defenders down the right hand-side of the pitch and delivered an inch-perfect cross from the byeline into the path of oncoming Stefan who sliced the ball off the goalie and into the net. Although missing five regulars, the Lokomotiv team were holding their own and finished on top against a physical Celtic team whose forays into the Railwaymen’s defence were determined but never too threatening.

Half-Time Celtic 0 v Loko 1

The second half saw three substitutions with newcomers Tom, Drew and Ian coming on for Nick, Michael and Eirik. Unfortunately, these substitutions seemed to completely unsettle the team with inevitable, devastating consequences…. Right from the start of the second half, Celtic stepped up a gear and started exerting more and more pressure on the reshuffled Loko defence. From one of Celtic’s attacks, one of their forwards got kicked in the legs as he was needling his way through the defence and the Eastern European referee had no alternative but to award a penalty. Celtic’s Eddy took it upon himself to punish Loko and he assuredly buried the ball past Dave.

Then followed ten crazy minutes where the Celts tore the hesitant Lokomotiv defence to shreds and scored freely from crosses on three occasions. This was followed by a penalty awarded to Celtic following a run down the wing resulting in Ivan wrestling with one of the Celtic forwards. This time the Celtic keeper took the penalty himself and crucified Dave again.

Possible salvation came in the form of a penalty converted by PJ following a foul on Stefan. At that point, Lokomotiv, who throughout the second half badly lacked assurance and conviction, had their chance to make the score look more respectable. Peggy, Stefan and James in particular were fighting hard to pick up the scraps up front with good support from the likes of Andrea and PJ whose forays from defence put pressure on Celtic. However, the green-hooped team capitalised on Lokomotiv’s frailties once again to score the final goal of a disastrous second half for the Lokomen.

Final Score Celtic 6 v Loko 2

Ivan Rahal (pictured above), Team Captain on the day commented:
“Thanks to the players and newcomers who turned up today not knowing whether the game was going to get called off. Yet again, we are seeing a recurring pattern: win one week but lose the next - and these losses invariably coincide with the absence of key regular players. Also, the half time changes destabilised the team and as soon as circumstances went against us our heads dropped but credit to Celtic who never gave up. If this pattern persists, we should feel optimistic about next week’s game, though. However, the almost invincible table-topping Sporting Lisbarnes are next in the Cup but this will hopefully fire the whole team up”.

Team Line Up
1. Dave
2. Romeo
3. Nick
4. PJ
5. Ivan (c)
6. Andrea
7. Peggy
8. Michael
9. Eirik
10. James
11. Stefan
12. Tom (Replaced Nick 45th Minute)
13. Drew (Replaced Michael 45th Minute)
14. Ian (Replaced Eirik 45th Minute)

Goals
Stefan (1)
10th Minute - Andrea got down the right and swung in a ball for Stefan to slice in off the keeper.
PJ (1)
70th Minute - Stefan was brought down and PJ converted the penalty.

Man of the Match
PJ - Solid at the back with a goal to boot!

Match Report by Ivan Rahal.