Sunday 1st February 2009
Barnesalona Cup
Lokomotiv Londres FC 0 v Celtic 1
Loko Lack Sharpness After Break
It was a bitterly cold morning that greeted the players with fingers going numb within minutes. Ismail went in goal, back four of PJ, Steve, Dale and Ivan, a midfield four of Peggy, Pete, Adrian and Stefan, with Roger and debutee Corbi helping us out.
Loko got off to the customary slow start and within three minutes a long ball over the defence was latched onto by a Celtic forward who was going nowhere down the edge of the area but Steve sweeping up at the back missed the ball and took the player out completely. Their manager Eddie stepped up but Ismail made a great save low to his left and clung to the ball stopping any rebound.
A further high goal kick was misjudged by Pete and the ball went towards his own goal, the striker latched onto the end of it but Steve got back, the striker turned inside and curled the ball against the post but fortunately it curled back out.
The goal came when the ball bobbled around the edge of the box and was hit against one post, then appeared to go out for a goal kick, but the referee gave a goal stating the ball went through a hole in the net. Shortly after another ball across the area wasn't cleared and after ping pong in the area, Dale cleared a shot off the line.
Loko finally started to compete and force some pressure and on a couple of occasions the ball was played dangerously across the box which we couldn't convert, Roger ran through on goal but the keeper saved, Stefan had two attempts at the rebound which were blocked then Corbi had a shot saved on the line as the keeper scrambled back.
Straight after good work by Roger on the byline so him drift in off the wing and play a ball to the back post where Peggy mistimed his effort with the goal at his mercy.
Half Time Loko 0 v Celtic 1
The main focus of the half time team talk was to make sure we started battling for every ball, we didn't have the desire to get there first and win it and were too often second to the second and third ball.
Loko started much better in the second half and were putting more pressure on their midfield, we had a lot of possession in and around the last third without really creating too much, on a couple of occasions the right ball from left to right would have seen Peggy one on one with the goalkeeper but the right ball never came.
As Loko pushed forward gaps appeared in midfield and the defence were having to work overtime, Dale and Steve flying into tackles and Steve getting an elbow to the face as a thank you. Adrian switched with PJ, with the former moving to right back and PJ the centre of the park, and almost immediately tried a forty yard shot which trickled through to the keeper.
Celtic were hitting us on the counter attack and outplaying our midfield, and they had a few shots from distance at Ismail or just wide, and put in a number of crosses that were decent but no one near to attacking them. They did appear to scramble the ball just over the line for a second but the referee deemed that Ismail had saved the ball with his back covering the line and the referee had no choice but to say it hadn't crossed the line, as he couldn't see it.
Towards the end Loko had one final chance for the equaliser when a Stefan cross to the back post found Peggy in space but the ball got away from him on his first touch and the chance had gone.
It was not a great performance and Celtic played the windy, cold conditions much better than Loko, fortunately it didn't have much effect on the cup table as we were already in the Barnesalona Cup 3rd/4th place semi-finals anyway, so put this down as some good match practice.
Final Score Loko 0 v Celtic 1
Manager Dale Mellor's comments:
"It was a very frustrating day today. Too many people were not at the races and we were outbattled for the majority of the match, our team today was crying out for someone in midfield to take the game by the scruff of the neck, win the challenges and let Celtic know they were in for a tough time.
I felt like we were second not only to the first challenge but the second and the third and we needed to have a more physical presence in the centre of the park, which in that respect showed our need for a Dave like player to win those challenges on this occasion.
This game didn't have too much effect on our cup progress as we were playing in the Barnesalona 3rd/4th place semi-finals regardless of the score. Let's use this match to get our match sharpness and fitness back on track and lets approach our next few fixtures with vigour, a desire to win and plenty of communication.
Finally, a big thank you to Corbi for helping us out and ensuring we had eleven players."
Team Line Up
1. Ismail
2. PJ
3. Ivan
4. Dale
5. Steve
6. Adrian
7. Peggy
8. Pete
9. Roger
10. Corbi
11. Stefan (c)
Man of the Match
Steve - A solid, assured perfrmance at the back, one of the only players up for the challenge and made numerous timely blocks with lots of good positional play.
Match Report by Dale Mellor.
No comments:
Post a Comment