Barnesalona League
Real Madras FC 0 v Lokomotiv Londres FC 3
Railwaymen Roar to Victory...!
A fantastic game and eleven outstanding performances saw Lokomotiv start 2009 in style.
The team lined up with Ismail in goal, a back four of PJ, Steve, Dale and Ivan, on the wings were Peggy and Nick with Dave and Pete in centre midfield. James and Stefan led the team up top.
Loko started a little sloppy and were second to the ball on numerous occasions and a little anxious when we had the ball at our feet. It took ten minutes but we gradually took control and had the first chance of the game when Stefan tuned his man and hit a twenty yard shot which had the keeper beaten but rebounded off the post. Shortly after Pete attacked his man from midfield, won the ball and hit a rasping drive which just cleared the crossbar.Madras had their one and pretty much only clear cut chance straight after, when a long ball was misjudged by Steve and their striker ran clear but hit his shot into Ismails mid-drift.
Loko took the lead after 25 minutes when Stefan ran onto a ball into the left hand side of the box, the keeper came out but Stefan got there first, hooked the ball goalwards, and it appeared to be heading in, but James followed up and made sure. The second Loko goal came ten minutes later, Peggy skipped around his man into the area but got pulled back and wasn't able to get a proper shot away. The referee gave the penalty and PJ stepped up to strike it home low to the keepers left, sending the keeper the wrong way.
The final action of the half was spent in and around the Loko goal mouth, three consecutive corners were defended, with the third one finding a Madras head but Peggy was well placed on the line to keep it out with his knee.
Half-Time Real Madras FC 0 v Loko 2
There wasn't too much for Dale to say at half-time as everyone had played well and battled hard, holding position and winning their personal battles.
It was a decent start to the second half, but the football had not been fluent throughout the game by the Railwaymen due to a bobbly pitch, lots of wind and with it being our first game in seven weeks.
Madras started brightly and a through ball from their centre midfielder nearly found its way to their man attacking from the right but Dale at full slide managed to clip it away for a throw in. Ivan and Nick were working well down the left and winning their battles with Madras's right sided players and PJ and Peggy were doing the same down our right.
Dave was winning 90% of the midfield challenges which freed up Pete to push on and support the front men. Stefan and Peggy hit a couple of long range shots which failed to trouble the keeper, and Stefan was having a lot of luck turning his man in and around the box.
The third goal came when Ivan, Nick, Dave and Pete linked up well to send the latter away into the box from the left hand side and he drove it across the keeper into the bottom corner for his first goal of the season.
A fourth nearly came immediately after, first when Dale headed a corner which hit a defender just in front of the keeper, and a few moments later a Stefan header was cleared off the line and Ivan could only manage to stab the rebound wide with the net ripe for a good strike.
PJ seised up with cramp and went up front for the last fifteen minutes, with Dave dropping into right back and James centre midfield. PJ eventually departing the field five minutes later when he cramped up a second time leaving Loko with ten men for the last ten minutes. However, during this time Ismail was dominating his defence at the back, shouting well and claiming everything that came his way and even with the man less Loko were not being troubled at the back.
The referee blew leaving Loko with a valuable three points and a satisfactory start to 2009.
Final Score Real Madras FC 0 v Loko 3
Manager Dale Mellor's comments:
"A decent performance today, we weren't at our best but we didn't need to be, we controlled the majority of the game and never looked troubled at the back throughout.
Thank you immensely to the eleven players that were there and worked their socks off, but I have to express my disappointment at two players, one who walked away because he was starting as substitute and to the other who never showed up at all. This is a team game and when you do things like this it lets your team mates down when we are all aiming for the same result, which is to win games for Loko.
Well done the eleven who played and lets start to get some consistency from week to week and win a few matches on the trot. 100% record in 2009, let's keep it going."
Team Line Up
1. Ismail
2. PJ
3. Ivan
4. Dale
5. Steve
6. Dave
7. Peggy
8. Pete
9. James
10. Stefan (c)
11. Nick
Goals
James (1)
25th Minute - Stefan rounded the keeper and hooked towards goal, and James followed it in and made sure.
PJ (1)
35th Minute - Peggy was tugged back in the box and was unable to get a shot away, PJ stepped up for the penalty and hit it low into the bottom right corner and sent the keeper the wrong way.
Pete (1)
60th Minute - Nice interchanges between three or four players around the edge of the box saw Pete run in from the left angle and hit his shot across the keeper into the bottom corner.
Man of the Match
Ismail (pictured above) - The best Ismail has played in goal, vocal, strong on crosses and gave the defence piece of mind. Fantastic. A clean sheet to boot.....!
Match Report by Dale Mellor.
