Sportsmans League Division 3
Real Northern 'B' 1 v Lokomotiv Londres FC 1
Bare Eleven Gain Deserved Draw
Only a bare eleven turned out to face Real Northern, as once again we were let down by players on the morning of the match with two new players coming in to cover for missing regulars.
Catalin started in goal with a back four of Steve, Chris, Ivan and Stefano, Ismail (pictured above) was defensive midfield with Vincent along side and Luciano and Diego on the wings. Terry was up front with James sitting in behind.
It was a scrappy first half with both teams guilty of giving the ball away in all areas of the pitch. Loko had the wind against them and found it difficult to clear the ball over the half way line particularly from goal kicks which put us under more pressure.
Diego was linking up well with Terry down the left on a few occasions but lack of support saw the moves break down each time.
The opening goal came when Ivan fouled his man thirty five yards out after losing the ball in the sun, poor marking at the back post from the resulting free kick left their winger free to fire a powerful shot past Catalin at the near post.
Real Northern had most of the possession leading up to half time and only a smart one on one save from Catalin and a great block from Stefano kept it at 1-0 until half-time.
Half-Time Real Northern 'B' 1 v Loko 0
The general feeling amongst the players was that we needed to get more support up to Terry so James was pushed up front to make it a 4-4-2.
We came out of the blocks well after the break and turned the game around as they were now the one's struggling against the wind. All of our good play was down our left with Diego, Vincent, Terry and James looking dangerous but just unable to find the killer pass.
Loko had a great chance to equalise when James chipped a perfect pass over the defence after a scrap on the eighteen yard line only for Terry to connect too well and lift his volley over the bar. Spirits were lifted and we all sensed we could get back into the game despite the referee seemingly playing as their twelfth man on many occasions.
The defence were all playing really well and Ismail was sweeping up in front superbly and didn't give them much of a sniff all half with the only chances they had coming from dodgy refereeing decisions.
Finally, we got what we deserved with twenty minutes left, more good play down the left saw the ball arrive to VINCENT twenty yards out and the new boy connected sweetly with a low left foot drive past the keeper into the bottom corner.
Loko pushed and pushed to find a winner but despite lots of throw in's and corner's the railwaymen just couldn't create that decisive chance and the game finished as a draw.
Final Score Real Northern 'B' 1 v Loko 1
Team Line Up
1. Catalin
2. Stefano
3. Ivan
4. Chris
5. Steve (c)
6. Ismail
7. Luciano
8. Vincent
9. James
10. Terry
11. Diego
Goal
Vincent (1)
70th Minute - A low drive from twenty yards into the bottom corner.
Man of the Match
Diego - All eleven of us played really well but he was involved in every attack and looked dangerous every time he had the ball. Special mention to Stefano, a player who rarely gets a mention but he defended superbly all game and kept us in it when throwing himself at the ball to block their strikers effort from ten yards just before half-time. Well played.
Match Report by Steve Haley and edited by Dale Mellor.
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