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Lokomotiv Londres FC 1 v Moormead United 1
Late Surge Salvages Point For Loko
Today’s game was against Moormead United, a non–league team playing in our England tops on this occasion. A heavy pre-match downpour didn’t dampen Loko spirits as you could sense our players were keen to get back to playing after a two week break.
The early stages of the game were a very scrappy affair. Loko were all over the place and at times played as if they were strangers to each other. Interim manager Roger’s formation was, again, an ambitious one with three midfielders and three forwards.
This resulted in gaping holes in the middle of the park which Moormead were taking advantage of albeit with no major threat to our team. Some Loko players were overcomplicating instead of playing simple balls and caused a few concerns at the back but Junior was as commanding as ever in goal and snuffed out any significant attacks.
Worryingly enough, though, Loko were not creating any danger with attempts on goal virtually non-existent. However, on the 35 minute mark, a free kick from the right saw Steve deflect the ball onto Ivan who’d gone up and who attempted a volley that hit the crossbar.
Half-Time Loko 0 v Moormead United 0
The second half saw Roger and Dave come on for Imants and Morris. Despite Roger’s assurance, Stefano’s solid midfield performance protecting the defence and Richard’s incursions on the right, Loko were still unable to impose their game and crack the game.
On the hour mark, their number 14 danced past three of our defenders on the edge of the box and his shot from the left found its way into the roof of our net. Loko looked seriously shellshocked and now had to take action. With half an hour to go and Richard launching neat and composed balls from the back onto Imants and Greg, whilst Roger, Dave and Dale were beginning to pull the strings from midfield, Loko were slowly getting the better of Moormead.
A lot of play was developing on their left hand side with Imants’s quality touches often finding Greg, including a chance where our forward unfortunately couldn’t connect with a pass from the byeline and hit his shot wide from five yards out.
The bombardment of fortress Moormead continued unabated but their keeper pulled a couple of acrobatic saves and their defence proved heroic at times. Another chance saw Dave cleverly passing the ball to his left onto Ivan whose shot from the edge of the box skimmed past the upright.
With just under ten minutes to go and thoughts of a fourth consecutive loss surely looming large on every Railwayman’s mind, Imants sped down the right side of the pitch, crossed the ball and with Greg challenging the defender at the near post resulting in them both missing the connection, DALE gambled with a run in behind and found himself clear in the six yard box and, to every Railwayman’s relief, tapped the ball past the sprawling keeper into the net.
With their tails wagging again, Loko were determined not to let go of their first point of the season, and with two minutes to go, a Moormead attack on our right saw their attacking midfielder sidestep Junior in the box with an open goal in sight but his goalbound shot was cleared off the line by Ivan.
Point and honour saved!
Final Score Loko 1 v Moormead United 1
Club Secretary Ivan Rahal's comments:
This resulted in gaping holes in the middle of the park which Moormead were taking advantage of albeit with no major threat to our team. Some Loko players were overcomplicating instead of playing simple balls and caused a few concerns at the back but Junior was as commanding as ever in goal and snuffed out any significant attacks.
Worryingly enough, though, Loko were not creating any danger with attempts on goal virtually non-existent. However, on the 35 minute mark, a free kick from the right saw Steve deflect the ball onto Ivan who’d gone up and who attempted a volley that hit the crossbar.
Half-Time Loko 0 v Moormead United 0
The second half saw Roger and Dave come on for Imants and Morris. Despite Roger’s assurance, Stefano’s solid midfield performance protecting the defence and Richard’s incursions on the right, Loko were still unable to impose their game and crack the game.
On the hour mark, their number 14 danced past three of our defenders on the edge of the box and his shot from the left found its way into the roof of our net. Loko looked seriously shellshocked and now had to take action. With half an hour to go and Richard launching neat and composed balls from the back onto Imants and Greg, whilst Roger, Dave and Dale were beginning to pull the strings from midfield, Loko were slowly getting the better of Moormead.
A lot of play was developing on their left hand side with Imants’s quality touches often finding Greg, including a chance where our forward unfortunately couldn’t connect with a pass from the byeline and hit his shot wide from five yards out.
The bombardment of fortress Moormead continued unabated but their keeper pulled a couple of acrobatic saves and their defence proved heroic at times. Another chance saw Dave cleverly passing the ball to his left onto Ivan whose shot from the edge of the box skimmed past the upright.
With just under ten minutes to go and thoughts of a fourth consecutive loss surely looming large on every Railwayman’s mind, Imants sped down the right side of the pitch, crossed the ball and with Greg challenging the defender at the near post resulting in them both missing the connection, DALE gambled with a run in behind and found himself clear in the six yard box and, to every Railwayman’s relief, tapped the ball past the sprawling keeper into the net.
With their tails wagging again, Loko were determined not to let go of their first point of the season, and with two minutes to go, a Moormead attack on our right saw their attacking midfielder sidestep Junior in the box with an open goal in sight but his goalbound shot was cleared off the line by Ivan.
Point and honour saved!
Final Score Loko 1 v Moormead United 1
Club Secretary Ivan Rahal's comments:
“Fair play to Moormead United, who gave us a tough game. We were shocking in the first half but rediscovered the benefits of a composed approach midway through the second half. One more positive is the fact that, although the manner of the draw was worrying at times, our results have slowly got better over the past four weeks. Let’s keep it up!"
Team Line Up
Team Line Up
1. Junior
2. Richard
3. Ivan
4. Ismail
5. Steve (c)
6. Stefano
7. David F
8. Dale
9. Greg
10. Morris
11. Imants
12. David J (Replaced Morris 45th Minute)
13. Roger (Replaced Imants 45th Minute)
Various other rolling changes were made throughout.
Goal
Various other rolling changes were made throughout.
Goal
Dale (1)
80th Minute - An Imants cross found its way through to Dale in the six yard box and he slotted past the keeper.
Man of the Match
Man of the Match
Steve (pictured above) - He pulled some of his characteristic last ditch tackles which probably saved us from conceding more goals. Special mentions to Junior, Richard and Stefano.
Match Report by Ivan Rahal.
Match Report by Ivan Rahal.
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