Friendly
Lokomotiv Londres FC 1 v London Rangers 4
Lack of Composure Costs Loko Dear
Today’s game was against London Rangers who finished above us last season and who have been training regularly for the past six weeks. Compare this to Lokomotiv whose first game it was after a two-month break. On his inaugural match as pre-season coach, Roger (pictured below) went for a surprisingly ambitious 4-3-3 formation.
The difference in preparation told right from the start with Rangers running Loko ragged and their midfield launching pinpoint attacks from the middle of the park with lots of long rockets being launched to their two nippy forwards. Despite the onslaught, Lokomotiv held it all together especially with Roger and Dale often breaking down their attacks.
On the wing Diego was making a nuisance of himself, however, Loko were not threatening the opposition’s goal. Steve, Ivan and Dale were winning the aerial battle against their diminutive forwards who more than often complained to the referee about fictitious fouls - but the referee remained unperturbed.
On the negative side, a couple of our players were being too selfish, taking on more players than their fitness allowed or even shooting from distance without any consideration for their better placed teammates.
On 23 minutes, Morris fouled their forward on the right hand side of our box. The resulting freekick curved past the three-man wall and took a deflection off Ivan and Ismail, with their striker following in to put the loose ball into the net.
Loko were still fighting but our lack of composure on the ball against their more skilful players was leaving holes throughout the pitch for them to foray and end up in front of our goal where only their lack of composure prevented them from piling more agony on Loko.
On 33 minutes though, Roger gave the ball away on the edge of our box and their winger passed it down the middle for their forward to tuck it into our goal.
Half-Time Loko 0 v London Rangers 2
Various substitutions took place at half time including Richard, our triallist who slotted into the right back position. Despite being ill over the past few days, Richard showed excellent composure and great skills including a few quality runs down the wing.
On 50 minutes, Diego crossed the ball across the midfield onto Michael who had his back to the goal. Our Portuguese forward passed it back to Diego who laid it on nicely for Michael again to turn, lose his marker on the edge of the box and slam the ball off the bottom of their right post into the net.
This quality finish lifted Loko’s spirits and the next 15 minutes were all Lokomotiv with the team at long last passing the ball to feet and becoming a real menace although the end product never looked like matching the build-up.
On 65 minutes, with four Rangers players in our half against our seven in defence, Rangers took advantage of our lack of mobility to add a third goal from a ball that got crossed from the left with their forward chipping it into the net from five yards out.
Some of the Lokomotiv players were beginning to lose their rag against their players who kept complaining to the ref about our physical but generally fair football. Steve got into an unnecessary argument with their forward as they were attacking us, thus leaving us exposed and their forward shot in the direction of the goal from the edge of the box with Ismail desperately trying to parry it but to no avail.
Then followed some argy bargy that could have only benefited Rangers as we were wasting a lot of nervous energy arguing whilst three goals down.
Final Score Loko 1 v London Rangers 4
Club Secretary Ivan Rahal's comments:
“With a little more composure, discipline and support for each other, we could have possibly grabbed a draw. True, Rangers were fitter than us and the score doesn’t lie. Having said that, I was quite surprised by the fact that our energy levels were not too bad after two months’ inactivity.
We’ve got three more friendlies before our league season starts, which is a great opportunity to trial more players so please let me know if you know of any quality players out there who could strengthen the team!”
Team Line Up
1. Ismail
2. Morris
3. Stefano
4. Ivan
5. Steve (c)
6. Roger
7. Diego
8. Dale
9. Joe
10. Eudimar
11. George
12. Michael (Replaced Eudimar 10th Minute)
13. Marco (Replaced George 30th Minute)
14. Richard (Replaced Morris 45th Minute)
15. Gary (Replaced Ivan 60th Minute)
Goal
Michael (1)
50th Minute - A one-two with Diego and a great left foot finish.
Man of the Match
Richard - A brilliant debut with skill, intelligence and speed in abundance, and he also played for the team, so well done! Special mention to Diego, Roger and Dale as well as Michael for his splendid, opportunistic strike.
Match Report by Ivan Rahal.
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