Match Report: Loko v Simon Ridge

Sunday 31st January 2010
Sportsmans League Division 3

Lokomotiv Londres FC 3 v Simon Ridge 3

Referee Robs Loko of Victory!

Controversy reigned supreme at the Civil Service Sports Ground for this competitive Division 3 clash between two teams trying to push towards the top three places in the league, after the referee disallowed a Loko goal for offside, a full thirty seconds after Roger had rounded the keeper to score.

Twelve of the squad of thirteen arrived just about in time for a proper warm up, and the team lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Ismail going in goal, Morris, Steve, Stefano and Ivan in defence, Peggy, Paul K, Dave and Rhyce in midfield with Roger and new signing Nicolas up front.

Dale stressed the need for a strong start that we needed to keep it tight for the first ten to fifteen minutes but in true Loko style we started slowly and within ten minutes we were behind, a free kick on the edge of the area was well defended but a couple of phases later a high curling ball into the box was misjudged by Ismail and the ball sailed over his head and hit Ivan for an unfortunate own goal.

The Railwaymen responded well and Nicholas and Rhyce brought some nice quick football into the team and were linking up well with Roger and Peggy, we were playing some nice football around the edge of the box but were guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net again, when we should have been having a pop when we got chance.

Nicholas looked to have beaten the offside trap by a good five yards and ran through on goal only for the referee to whistle for a shocking offside decision.

Ismail didn't have a save to make for the rest of the half and Loko had a shot from Nicolas blocked in the six yard box and Roger curled an effort just wide of the post from outside of the box on the left hand side. Loko were very sloppy at times in the first half and on numerous occasions gave the ball away far too easily, we looked good going forward but defensively we struggled to keep the shape and clear our lines.

Stefano was replaced by Vincent just before half-time after clashing with Ismail and sustaining a dead leg. Ivan moved to centre back, Paul K to left back and Vincent went into centre midfield.

Half-Time Loko 0 v Simon Ridge 1

The lads came out of the blocks in the second half and within five minutes had levelled the scores, the ball was worked through midfield and found its way to DAVE in the penalty area and he drilled it passed the keeper into the bottom right hand corner.

The boys looked up for it and were now getting on top with Peggy and Rhyce beating their men on the wings and Nicolas and Roger holding the ball up well and linking with Dave and Vincent, but Loko contrived to shoot themselves in the foot again when Ismail called for a ball into the box under no pressure but was ignored by Paul who cleared for a corner, and from the corner Ismail tried to punch clear but only managed to punch it into the net to gift Simon Ridge their second own goal of the match.

It was good to see that heads didn't go down and Loko pressed forward playing much the better football, linking well and creating shooting opportunities in the box that we choose not to take, one shot that was taken was deflected by the defence for a corner and from Peggy's corner the ball fell kindly for STEVE (pictured above) to hit the top left post and cannon into the net.

Five minutes later and we were ahead, NICOLAS chased a lost cause with the defender who hesitated and the debutant nipped in, rounded the keeper and scored a great goal.

Loko were now totally dominant and apart from the two own goals Ismail had still not had to make a save. Loko kept pressing and thought they had the victory sawn up when Rhyce played a ball over the top for Roger to run through, with no whistle for offside from the referee, round the keeper and score. Simon Ridge were insistant it was offside and the referee changed her mind after the goal had been scored, thirty seconds after the through ball, which is clearly not within the law.

The play was dead once the goal had been scored and at that point no decison to change her mind could be taken, but she did and Simon Ridge were given further help in a game Loko were determined to throw away.

The inevitable happened ten minutes later when a hopeful high ball into the box was missed by Steve and their striker finally had their first shot on target to hit the bottom corner and level the scores.

Both teams had late opportunities to win the match, Roger got past the last defender but his touch was too hard and the keeper claimed, a hopeful long ball by Simon Ridge beat three defenders and the lone striker ran through and miskicked wide. They then had a chance where their striker managed to turn in the box and shoot straight at Ismail and finally Dave had a shot tipped round the top corner by their keeper who made a good save.

Final Score Loko 3 v Simon Ridge 3

Manager Dale Mellor's comments:
"It was a very mixed performance today, we played some outstanding football at times and glided past them with ease but we didn't test the keeper enough and tried to walk the ball in to the net.

We were also quite wasteful with the ball and continually miscontrolled the ball or passed it straight to them and gave away possession which affected our momentum and ultimately we had too many spells during the game where we lost concentration and gifted them possession and giving them two of their goals was the difference in the game.

We cannot be hard on Ismail, he has agreed to go in goal when most others wouldn't consider it and until we can get a keeper in or Steve Martin will be back and will hopefully agree to go in goal for the remainer of this season until we find a new one, we will have to keep switching keepers and suffer these lapses.

Overall, I would say this was two points lost and yes we can complain about our goal which shouldn't have been disallowed even though it may have been offside, that is not the issue, either give it or don't but you cannot change your mind after the goal has been scored and the play has ended.
In the end we threw it away by shooting ourselves in the foot with the own goals and Simon Ridge will be much happier with the result.

Let's get some good numbers for a difficult game against Red Star United next week."

Team Line Up
1. Ismail
2. Morris
3. Ivan
4. Stefano
5. Steve (c)
6. Paul K
7. Peggy
8. Dave
9. Nicolas
10. Roger
11. Rhyce
12. Vincent (Replaced Stefano 43rd Minute)
13. Dale

Goals
Dave (1)
50th Minute - Drilled into the bottom right corner from around the penalty spot.
Steve (1)
60th Minute - A corner landed kindly for a shot in off the left hand post in to the top corner.
Nicolas (1)
65th Minute - Nipped in behind the defender, rounded the keeper and scored.

Man of the Match
Nicolas - Probably one of the best Loko debuts I have seen, comfortable on the ball, worked his socks off and had the finish to match. Very well played.

Match Report by Dale Mellor.