Barnesalona League
Lokomotiv Londres FC 3 v Groovers 0
Quality finish to the season...!
A fantastic performance from the lads saw us finish the season with five wins out of five in the league. A full team turned out and the gaffer was able to name nine of the same players that ended the week before, with Andrea again in goal, the same steady back four of PJ, Dale, Steve and Ivan. James on the right wing with Joe on the left and three centre midfielders in Tom, Stefan and Pete. Samuel led the line once again with Chris Clarke and Ismail on the bench.
Groovers lent one of our players, Chris Z, who had turned up without telling anyone he was coming and he played the whole game for them and this meant they started with ten men until their eleventh man arrived around the half an hour mark, but how we made them pay in the meantime.....Loko got off to a fantastic start and heeded the managers words to close them down from the first whistle, continually winning the ball and playing the ball around fantastically well. The first goal arrived after ten minutes of pressure when a ball was played into the area and Stefan half hit the ball and the floor from just inside the left hand side of the penalty area and the ball settled in the bottom right hand corner of the net.
The railwaymen continued in the same vein with Dale, Steve, Ivan (pictured above) and PJ giving them very little opportunity to spend time in our area, and playing the balls into Tom, Stefan and Pete in midfield. From one such attack the ball was played through their defence who had played a ridiculously high line for sunday league football, and Samuel curved his run to stay onside and ran from the right touchline one on one and slipped it past the Groovers keeper for number two.
It had been a great start which got even better in the 25th Minute when sustained Loko pressure saw the ball ping backwards and forwards in the penalty area and the ball fell to Samuel on the right edge of the penalty area, where he stepped over the ball, wrongfooted the defender who lunged out and took his legs away. The referee had no option but to award the penalty and PJ stepped up for his sixth goal of the season, not a bad return for a defender.
Groovers were soon upto eleven men and started to press a lot more but other than a couple of long range efforts that went wide or over, Andrea did not have a save to make in the first half, he commanded his area well and gave his defence confidence.
Loko should have had a fourth goal before half-time when Stefan got his shot away that beat the keeper and trickled over the line, but the referee said the ball was cleared before it had crossed the line, when it should have been an even more handsome lead for the Londres.
Half-Time Loko 3 v Groovers 0
The half-time team talk was to keep playing exactly as we had, and try and get the ball wide a little more as it didn't need to go down the middle every time. Chris C came on for Ivan, and Ismail came on for Joe in straight swaps.
Groovers came at us early in the second half and we stood up well to the onslaught, with Steve and Dale keeping the centre forwards quiet the majority of the game, they pushed men on a lot more and this gave Loko the perfect opportunity to counter-attack.
Chris Z nearly got them a goal back when he got in behind the defence only for Steve to track back and put him off just as he shot from eight yards and Andrea saved well with his feet, then out of nowhere and for reasons that still baffle everyone who was there, the referee gave them a penalty for an apparant push by either Chris or Pete, but neither player raised their hands. Their player stepped up but Andrea guessed right and again pulled off a fantastic save with his feet to keep the clean sheet in tact.
Loko then hit them on the counter-attack with a stunning move nearly getting the fourth, when Dale curled a ball up the left wing, Samuel held it up superbly and hit a cross field ball to James on the right wing who played it inside to Stefan on the edge of the box who played a brilliantly timed ball in behind the centre back and full back for PJ to hit a first time shot that cannoned out off the inside of the post.
Again a delicate cheap over the top by Tom put Samuel away from the half way line but this time the ball bobbled just as he went to shot and the ball went well over the bar when he was one on one with the keeper.
James swapped with Andrea for the last fifteen minutes and Andrea came on and showed his silky skills on a couple of occasions especially when he skinned two players down by our own corner flag, winning the free kick.
The entire team was superb throughout with Samuel playing alone up front with ease, Pete chasing all around the pitch and Tom and Stefan working their socks off, the entire defence were once again solid, as they have been throughout the season and Chris C played well in the second half at left back. It's a shame we can't get more regulars to the Tournoi as we would be even more of a threat than we are at present!
Final Score Loko 3 v Groovers 0
Manager Dale Mellor's comments:
"Absolutely top notch performance, if we had had this team regularly throughout the season we would have been pushing for the championship. We throughly outplayed the team in fourth who had won the cup by beating the reigning league champions.
Well done for ending the season with a magnificent five wins ut of five, as I have no doubt we would have beaten Hendrix in both games on current form.
Let's look forward to the Tournoi and a few beers in the heat of Italy!"
Team Line Up
1. Andrea
2. PJ
3. Ivan
4. Dale
5. Steve
6. Tom [Y]
7. James
8. Pete
9. Stefan (c) [Y]
10. Samuel
11. Joe [Y]
12. Chris C (Replaced Ivan 45th Minute)
13. Ismail (Replaced Joe 45th Minute)
Goals
Stefan (1)
10th Minute - A scuffed shot that hit the bottom corner from fifteen yards out.
Samuel (1)
15th Minute - He broke the off-side trap and ran through to slip it past the keeper.
PJ (1 Pen)
25th Minute - Samuel was tripped and PJ hit the ball low to the keepers left.
Man of the Match
Samuel - It was a very good performance from Samuel, he played up front by himself brilliantly and held the ball up which allowed other players to come into play. He used the ball intelligently and showed good composure for his goal. Shame about the bobble when he ran through in the second half as he deserved to get another.
Match Report by Dale Mellor.
No comments:
Post a Comment