Sportsmans League Division 3
Eel Brook Rangers 4 v Lokomotiv Londres FC 3
Loko Fall Just Short in Comeback!
A magnificent comeback from the boys after being 4-0 down at half-time just failed to bag a priceless point to get our season up and running, a bit of discipline, composure and pride saw us fight back superbly especially considering we had numerous new players in the team.
We started on the back foot playing a 4-4-2 and couldn't get a foothold early on, and Rangers took the lead with a little help from a sloppy piece of defending, their player forced his way past two defenders and hit it from just outside the area on their right and it found its way into the bottom corner, the boys needed to be more physical and maybe Ismail in goal could have made a better attempt.The second came shortly afterwards when they had a long throw from their right, won a flick on and their player hit it on the half-volley into the top corner, a quality finish but again he was loose in the area and we should have been tighter.
We came back into the game and won a couple of corners, Samuel and come on for Paul K and hit a shot over the bar, and Thomas nearly got through on goal only for a latch ditch tackle from their centre back to put the ball out for another corner.
The third goal was an easy one-two on the edge of the box and their midfielder ran through untracked and Dale and Ismail collided as they tried to get in the block, but the midfielder won the race and hammered it home over Ismail. The fourth followed shortly afterwards and should not have been conceded because it was a hopeful ball to the far post and Ismail should have dealt with it but failed to collect the ball and their player bundled it over the line from two yards.
Half-Time Eel Brook Rangers 4 v Loko 0
Dale who had tweaked his calf early on swapped with Ismail and went in goal with Ismail slotting in at the back, Peggy replaced Dave and Mark came on for Steve. Dale had switched to a 4-5-1 with a few minutes to go in the first half but enforced his change of shape with what he specifically wanted at half-time and told Andy to sit in front of the back four and stop them running through, with Mike playing further forward and supporting Roger when the opportunity arose.
Loko made a much more solid start to the second half and started putting in challenges and standing up to the physical battle, we kept the ball much better and the centre of the park become much stronger and solid.
The comeback started when the ball was nicely played through the field starting from Samuel at right back, into Mike and Andy in midfield and played out to MARK on the right who lobbed the keeper from just outside the area. After the goal Loko consolidated and kept the shape and were winning the ball all around the park, their No. 8 was having too much influence in midfield and Dale asked Andy to keep tight to him whenever he came into the Loko half. Rangers had a couple of long range shots but were not as threatening as the first half.
Loko scored a second when Ivan and Peggy worked the ball down the left, played in ROGER (pictured above) who held off the defender attacking from the left and slotted into the keepers right bottom corner. The third came moments later when Samuel played the ball down the right and THOMAS cut inside two defenders and drilled low to the keepers bottom right corner, as the keeper appeared to be out of position too far to the left of his goal.
Eel Brook tried to keep the ball and play out time by booting the ball out of play, and had a couple of corners and long range efforts all of which Dale gathered or watched out of play. Loko made a couple more attempts at getting in scoring positions and Mike put in a last ditch corner that was well cleared by the defence and time was always ticking down until the referee blew his final whistle.
Final Score Eel Brook Rangers 4 v Loko 3
Manager Dale Mellor's comments:
"I have to say that at half-time I feared it would be a repeat of last week, but we changed shape and everyone stood up to the physical challenge in the second half. We started to compose ourselves and play the ball around instead of panicking and we looked far more solid defensively when we played with a holding midfielder.
We still have a lot of good players out and I'm confident we can be beating teams like this if we start as we finished and don't panic on the ball. With our full squad we can push on, become more solid throughout the park and start to play our natural passing game. Players should be returning over the next couple of weeks.
I would like to thank the new players for coming in and helping us out, and it is never easy to play so many new players and gel straight away, and this showed in the first half. Let's look to make ourselves available regularly and get used to playing with each other on a more consistant basis and results will improve.
Hopefully see you all next week."
Team Line Up
1. Ismail
2. Paul K
3. Ivan (c)
4. Michael
5. Dale
6. Andy
7. Thomas
8. Mike
9. Roger
10. Steve
11. Dave
12. Samuel (Replaced Paul K 35th Minute)
13. Peggy (Replaced David 45th Minute)
14. Mark (Replaced Steve 45th Minute)
Goals
Mark (1)
55th Minute - Lobbed the keeper from the right side of the area.
Roger (1)
65th Minute - Ran through on goal from the left and slotted past the keeper.
Thomas (1)
70th Minute - Cut inside his full-back and hit a low drive into the bottom corner.
Man of the Match
Andy - Took a while to get into the game, but in the second half played the defensive midfield holding position superbly and kept their best player (No. 8) out of the game.
Match Report by Dale Mellor.
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