Barnesalona Cup
Lokomotiv Londres FC 1 v Sporting Lisbarnes 1
Sporting Steal an Undeserved Point
It was a cold wet, rainy morning at Barn Elms in West London for this vital cup fixture at the end of November. It was a bare eleven that turned up with two people who were meant to be helping us out not turning up.
Dave kindly went in goal, with a back four of Romeo, Ivan, PJ and Dale. Two defensive centre midfielders Michael and Nick (pictured below) sat in front of the back four with Pete just in front of them behind Roger, wide men of James on the right and new captain Stefan on the left, with Roger up front by himself. It was a 4-5-1 formation but looked more like a 4-2-3-1 and the lads played it perfectly.
Loko started quite slowly and Sporting got on top early as the lads got used to the new formation, they twice hit shots over the bar in the first five minutes which could have been worse for the Railwaymen, but from then on Loko totally controlled the first half.
Loko were giving Sporting no time on the ball and they weren't able to pass their way through the midfield as Loko filled all the gaps, when we got the ball we knocked it around nicely and Nick got away down the left and won a corner, which was swung over for Ivan to win the header and it looked to be going straight in, but somehow Pete tried to knock it over the line but contrived to hit his shot over the empty net from four yards.
The goal came when a ball spun loose to PJ 35 yards out and he belted it back past the keeper into the top right hand corner, it was a peach of a drive and very much the goal of the season so far for Loko.
Straight after, Roger span his man on the edge of the box but couldn't get the required power behind the shot when one on one, and the keeper parried it away. More was to come, as Ivan got in first to a corner and headed a yard wide totally unmarked in front of goal, to be followed by James who just headed wide from a free header. Great work down the left by Ivan, Michael and Roger saw a qualty ball in and Stefan got in front of his man and headed just wide again, Loko at this stage should have been at least 4-0 in front.
Sporting showed how dangerous they could be in the last minute of the half when the winger got in behind Ivan, Dale tried to cover but couldn't quite get there and he hit the ball across the face of goal and out for a goal kick.
Half-Time Loko 1 v Sporting Lisbarnes 0
The words from Dale at the break were meant to encourage and ensure that every player went out the first ten minutes after half-time and kept their composure, do the simple things and consolidate the 1-0 lead, it was important that the team didn't switch off.
Loko started the second half well and Sporting, as expected, started to press the game much more than before. The midfield trio for Loko were winning a lot of ball in the centre of the park and kept trying to get the ball wide, unfortunately the ball kept sticking in the bog in the middle of the pitch and we occasionally gave the ball away as a result.
The Railwaymen had a great chance to enhance their lead when Roger again got in behind the defence but the keeper again made a full length save and parried the ball away and no Loko player was close enough to capitalise on the rebound.
James was battling gamely but got penalised with a yellow card for a tackle from behind, and then Dale got in a scuffle with two Sporting players after a tackle from behind on Romeo, and he and two of their players were also booked and told to calm down.Sporting had had more possession in the second half and from a ball in the box, James sliced over is own crossbar to safety, and they had a few long range efforts but other than that they didn't create anything clear cut. Dave was playing well in goal, and Sporting then went down to ten men when they had a player go off with an injury. Loko duly followed when Stefan went off for ten minutes to bandage up a cut head and just as we looked to be heading to three deserved points, the equaliser came.
A long ball from the keeper was headed by Dale at full stretch out towards Romeo who should have put the ball into touch with his clearance but found their man twenty yards in front of him, he hit a high hopeful ball to the back post with Ivan having a substantial height advantage over his man, unfortunately Ivan was static and the Lisbarnes player jumped highest and headed it back into the far corner.
It was a very sloppy avoidable goal that cost us two points, and most likely a place in the James Rettie Cup main semi-finals which the top two qualify for, the third and fourth place teams qualify for the Barnesalona Cup, and this is now assured (the table is now updated and we need to beat Celtic by a few goals and hope Hendrix FC upset Sporting Lisbarnes, in order to finish in the top two).
The rest of the game was played out in midfield, and Loko can jusifiably feel hard done by, after out competing and out playing the best team in Barnesalona over the past two years looking at past results.
Unlucky guys, lets look to get a full six points before Christmas from our two League games against the League's bottom club Hendrix FC.
Final Score Loko 1 v Sporting Lisbarnes 1
Manager Dale Mellor's comments:
"Once again the boys did us proud, I asked for something a little different today with a 4-5-1 formation but it was played to perfection and Sporting can consider themselves lucky that they weren't 4-0 down by half-time, the game could and should have been over.
It was good to see everybody communicating and throwing their bodies on the line for the cause, sliding into challenges and really helping each other out both defensively and when we were attacking. Every player gets a pat on the back, lets just ensure that in future we do the simple things correctly, get the ball out of play when in trouble and clear our lines, we gifted them their equaliser and that was the only downside.
Well done Stefan for taking the captain's armband for the rest of this season, he's always very vocal and it never affects his performance, I'm hoping for even more throughout the next few games and let's give him and vice-captain Pete more help with communication throughout the season - as always all positive!!!
Oh and many thanks to Dave for once again going in goal, I appreciate that it's not his position and if we can get a keeper in or Ismail back then we can maybe alternate so that it isn't every week for the same player."
Team Line Up
1. Dave
2. Romeo
3. Ivan
4. Dale [Y]
5. PJ
6. Michael
7. James [Y]
8. Nick
9. Pete
10. Roger
11. Stefan (c)
Goal
PJ (1)
20th Minute - A 35 yard screamer into the top right of the goal.
Man of the Match
Jointly awarded to the centre midfield trio of Pete (pictured above), Michael and Nick who played the new tactics to perfection, Pete pushed on with Michael and Nick sitting and it worked fantastically. Very well done boys.
Match Report by Dale Mellor.
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