Match Report: Kensington Athletic v Loko

Sunday 23rd October 2011
Ron Halfacre Challenge Cup Round 1

Kensington Athletic 1 v Lokomotiv Londres FC 7

Convincing Win Sees Loko Progress

Loko turned up on a sunny October Sunday morning full of confidence after a great run of results.

Following a spate of injuries and absences, the Loko team though had a new look about it with three new players recruited within the last week and Ed named captain for the first time ever.

Loko were aware of Kensington Athletic’s decent start to the season and took the game very seriously deploying the team in a very prudent 4-5-1 formation.  However, the first indications were that Athletic were in a for a tough morning with Loko passing the ball around crisply and threatening their seemingly makeshift keeper right from the start.

In the fifth minute, a tentative, long-range effort from IMANTS from 35 yards looped into the bottom corner – a great start to the game and Loko were now in full swing.

The rare attempts by their forwards were easily snuffed out by the defence where Ismail and Chris never dropped their guard and Ivan and Chris were very vocal with Chris in particular marshalling his defence authoritatively.

After a hesitant start upfront, new boy Renato was beginning to take his chances with a few lethal shots that swerved dangerously past their goal.  Meanwhile other new boy Gavyn was making his mark with many crunching tackles and physical challenges a la Vieira.

It was obvious for all to see that, for some reason, Kensington Athletic’s hearts were not into it whilst the Railwaymen were growing in confidence.

On twenty seven minutes, DAVE K went on a mazy run down the left and his shot across the area appeared to cross the line just before the defender hacked into his own goal.

Loko dominated throughout the remainder of the half and Dale had very little to do in goal, with only one long range effort coming his way which went harmlessly over the crossbar.

Half-Time Kensington Athletic 0 v Loko 2

The second half started in the same vein and the battle in midfield was becoming decidedly one-sided with Imants, Gavyn and Renato in particular terrorising Kensington Athletic.

On fifty minutes, Chris floated a free kick from the half way line into the box and DAVE F got to the ball first and drilled home form just inside the box.

Then followed the RENATO show starting two minutes later, where on fifty two minutes, the boy from Brazil won the clearance in the air against the full back and ran through and slotted home to the left of the keeper for a 4-0 lead.

The only blip came straight after when a ball on the right of our defence was not cleared in time and ended up in our opponents’ feet with their forward launching a rocket from 25 yards out into the roof of our net, taking a deflection on the way off one of our defenders.

They nearly made it 4-2 shortly after when another long rang effort was heading into the top corner but Dale turned it over the crossbar at full stretch.

In the sixty fifth minute, Morris played a great ball out to Imants who crossed to the back post and RENATO scored with a spectacular overhead kick.

Five minutes later, their defenders were messing with the ball at the back from a poor keeper throw and Dave K won the ball, passed to RENATO and he had another easy finish.

Despite this already impressive result, Loko never took their feet off the gas. On seventy five minutes, RENATO, again scored a carbon copy of the first goal, closed down the clearance, won the ball and ran through and slotted it to the left of the keeper.

It was only another five minutes later when the referee awarded Loko its first penalty in all competitions and friendlies for the past 10 months. This caused a lot of discussion with Renato keen on adding to his already impressive tally and goalkeeper Dale dreaming of replicating a penalty strike that won us the European Tournament in 2009.

Dale got the manager's vote. He therefore placed the ball on the penalty spot but his weak shot went straight to the keeper’s feet who saved easily.

A few minutes later and the referee blew his whistle on yet another very encouraging Loko performance and some more moral boasting goals for a variety of players.

Final Score Kensington Athletic 1 v Loko 7

Club Secretary Ivan Rahal's comments:
“True, Kensington Athletic didn’t push us today but this shouldn’t take away from our near perfect performance. So it's 10 points to the whole team for application and another 10 points to our forwards and midfield for their clinical finishing. Next Sunday’s game will no doubt be a much tougher proposition against the free-scoring league leaders, so be prepared!"

Team Line Up
1. Dale
2. Stefano
3. Ivan
4. Chris
5. Ismail
6. Gavyn
7. Renato
8. Eudimar (c)
9. Dave K
10. Imants
11. Dave F
12. Morris (Replaced Stefano 55th Minute)
13. Marcel (Replaced Ivan 55th Minute)

Goals
Imants (1)
5th Minute - A long range effort looped into the bottom corner.
Dave K (1)
27th Minute - It was a mazy run down the left by Dave and his shot across the area appeared to cross the line just before the defender hacked into his own goal.
Dave F (1)
50th Minute - Chris floated a free kick on the half way line into the box and Dave got to the ball first and drilled home.
Renato (4)
52nd Minute - Won the clearance in the air against the full back ran through and slotted home.
65th Minute - Morris played a nice ball out to Imants who crossed to the back post and Renato scored a wonderful overhead kick.
70th Minute - The defenders were messing with the ball at the back from a poor keeper throw and Dave K won the ball, passed to Renato and he had an easy finish.
75th Minute - A carbon copy of the first goal, closed down the clearance, won the ball and ran through and slotted home.

Man of the Match
Renato - A magic performance crowned with four opportunistic goals. Today Renato was sharp, clinical and adventurous! Special mention to Gavyn, Imants and Chris.

Match Report by Ivan Rahal.