Friendly
On the day though, the prospects looked brighter courtesy of a freshly mowed pitch, good weather conditions and Lokomotiv and their 10-man opposition turning up commendably early.
The game got off to a good start, with Lokomotiv’s defence, midfield and attack combining effectively and passing the ball on the floor against strangely subdued opponents. On 15 minutes, Chris found his way down the right wing and crossed the ball to Ismail who chipped it past his defender and nutmegged the keeper for the game's opener.
Lokomotiv continued to dominate, with many attacks starting from defence. Andrew covered effectively, Tom played vigorously, Joe and Ismail supported the team's attacks relententlessly, whilst Roger and Sam caused the Romans a lot of problems upfront. Sam, Tom, Roger and Ivan could have scored on several occasions but the finishing was rather dire.
On 30 minutes, Lokomotiv capitalised on their domination. Said made a convincing surge upfield but miskicked the ball which somehow ended up in the path of Sam on the left hand side of the box. Our Portuguese wizard wriggled his way past his defender and slotted the ball assuredly to the left of the keeper and into the net.
Half-Time Loko 2 v London Romans 0
The pattern was repeated in the second half. With Romans eschewing challenges, Loko invariably starting attacks from defence with Chris, Said and Ivan taking advantage of the large spaces, the midfield monopolising play, and Roger and Sam creating many chances. But again, once in the box, overcomplication took hold of the Railwaymen who preferred passing in tight spaces instead of having a long overdue crack at their opponents' goal.
Against the run of play, Loko got punished. With 3 Railway players passing the ball dangerously close to their box and failing to clear their lines, a Roman forward nicked the ball and shot from the left hand side of the box past diving Fabrizio and into the goal off the back post.
Thankfully, with only 5 minutes to play, Tom broke from midfield and slalomed past several defenders to score a superb solo goal and crown the railwaymen's victory.
Final Score Loko 3 v London Romans 1
On the negative side, why do we always make things so difficult for ourselves? At times, we try to play fancy football into the box instead of taking shots.
Lokomotiv Londres FC 3 v London Romans 1
Wasteful Loko Win Comfortably
The run-up to this friendly saw Lokomotiv suffer an unprecedented spate of last minute injuries with a total of five players pulling out within 24 hours of kick-off. This resulted in Lokomotiv only fielding 5 of the players to be involved in the forthcoming tournament plus two new players, making it a staggering 57 players used this season.
The run-up to this friendly saw Lokomotiv suffer an unprecedented spate of last minute injuries with a total of five players pulling out within 24 hours of kick-off. This resulted in Lokomotiv only fielding 5 of the players to be involved in the forthcoming tournament plus two new players, making it a staggering 57 players used this season.
On the day though, the prospects looked brighter courtesy of a freshly mowed pitch, good weather conditions and Lokomotiv and their 10-man opposition turning up commendably early.The game got off to a good start, with Lokomotiv’s defence, midfield and attack combining effectively and passing the ball on the floor against strangely subdued opponents. On 15 minutes, Chris found his way down the right wing and crossed the ball to Ismail who chipped it past his defender and nutmegged the keeper for the game's opener.
Lokomotiv continued to dominate, with many attacks starting from defence. Andrew covered effectively, Tom played vigorously, Joe and Ismail supported the team's attacks relententlessly, whilst Roger and Sam caused the Romans a lot of problems upfront. Sam, Tom, Roger and Ivan could have scored on several occasions but the finishing was rather dire.
On 30 minutes, Lokomotiv capitalised on their domination. Said made a convincing surge upfield but miskicked the ball which somehow ended up in the path of Sam on the left hand side of the box. Our Portuguese wizard wriggled his way past his defender and slotted the ball assuredly to the left of the keeper and into the net.
Half-Time Loko 2 v London Romans 0
The pattern was repeated in the second half. With Romans eschewing challenges, Loko invariably starting attacks from defence with Chris, Said and Ivan taking advantage of the large spaces, the midfield monopolising play, and Roger and Sam creating many chances. But again, once in the box, overcomplication took hold of the Railwaymen who preferred passing in tight spaces instead of having a long overdue crack at their opponents' goal.
Against the run of play, Loko got punished. With 3 Railway players passing the ball dangerously close to their box and failing to clear their lines, a Roman forward nicked the ball and shot from the left hand side of the box past diving Fabrizio and into the goal off the back post.
Thankfully, with only 5 minutes to play, Tom broke from midfield and slalomed past several defenders to score a superb solo goal and crown the railwaymen's victory.
Final Score Loko 3 v London Romans 1
Assistant Manager Ivan Rahal's comments:
"Excellent overall performance with the team making the most of the great playing surface. Fabrizio proved a superb, agile and commanding keeper. The defence linked up nicely with the midfield. Plus, today we saw our first glimpse of the complimentary and potentially lethal pairing of Roger and Sam upfront. So it was a well deserved win.
On the negative side, why do we always make things so difficult for ourselves? At times, we try to play fancy football into the box instead of taking shots.
Also, today we witnessed a totally unacceptable scene reminiscent of the dark Loko days. One of our players walked off the pitch midway through the second half because he could not take the criticism one of our players was dishing out. It was just a friendly but in a league situation this kind of behaviour could affect the team not only numerically but also psychologically."
Team Line Up
1. Fabrizio
2. Chris C
3. Ivan
4. Said
5. Steve
6. Andrew
7. Ismail
8. Tom
9. Roger (c)
10. Samuel
11. Joe
Goals
Ismail (1)
15th Minute - Chris crossed for Ismail who chipped the defender and nutmegged the keeper.
Samuel (1)
30th Minute - Said miskicked and the ball found Samuel who skinned the defender and slotted home.
30th Minute - Said miskicked and the ball found Samuel who skinned the defender and slotted home.
Tom (1)
85th Minute - Tom went on a mazzy run skinning a few defenders before firing in the third.
85th Minute - Tom went on a mazzy run skinning a few defenders before firing in the third.
Man of the Match
Ivan (pictured above) - Captain's choice for another consistent display.
Match Report by Ivan Rahal.
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