Sportsman's League, Division 4
Lokomotiv Londres FC 10 v Northcote Falcons 2
Renato show delivers perfect 10
Loko turned up on time and in force today unlike the referee whose unpreparedness meant a late kick-off. But the old adage ‘”Good things come to those who wait” proved quite apt - in particular for a scout in attendance who’d come to check out two of our players with a view to offering them a professional football future in Turkey…
Northcote Falcons looked a decent team right from the start, passing the ball neatly on ILEA’s smooth surface and causing problems to the Railwaymen who seemed rather taken aback by the quality of the opposition. On a narrow pitch, the game was very tight from the start with a lot of the action taking place in midfield and Loko not being able to develop their game sufficiently against sturdy opposition.
Yet, on 13 minutes, Loko were awarded a free-kick thirty yards out, at 11 o’clock from the Northcote goal. Deliberations as to who was going to execute it were short lived as an assertive RENATO took a few steps forward and despatched a cannonball low to the left of their goalkeeper and into the net.
On 20 minutes, Dave J picked a ball in midfield and passed it to the left of DAVE K (pictured above) who took a shot from the edge of the box and scored number two.
This was followed ten minutes later by another RENATO goal who crucified their keeper from 7 yards out.
On 32 minutes, DAVID K, who was seemingly in no man’s land near the left hand side corner flag, took on a defender and, with his back to the goal, completely mystified his marker by backheeling the ball past him, brushed past another defender and scored with a shot from 4 yards out that beat the keeper to his near post.
Then followed a rare error by Junior who misjudged the trajectory of a shot and dropped the ball in front of one of their forwards only for Stefano to clear the goal-line to the relief of our keeper.
A fifth goal came soon after that where RENATO, again, lost two defenders and scored to the left of their keeper from 5 yards out.
Despite this flurry of goals and Loko now being in full control, the Falcons’heads never dropped. From a corner from the left of the Loko goal, their number 7 was two yards away from reducing the score but his shot over the bar will surely qualify for the Torres-Miss-A-Sitter-Award of the Year. Falcons were keeping the pressure on but were always on the receiving end of a Loko counterattack launched from our now dominant midfield.
Half-time: Loko 5 vs Nortcote Falcons 0
With the team playing superbly, manager Chris decided to stick with his starting line-up for the first 10 minutes of the second half. On 55 minutes, the three team changes resulted in a shaky few 15 minutes were the team didn’t look as focused – or was it a case of taking one's foot off the gas?
However, on 61 minutes, RENATO scored his fourth of the day by meeting a cross from the right from Imants and drilling his shot low down to the left of their keeper.
Our samba star was now scenting blood on a big scale and even tried to lob their keeper from 45 yards out a la Pele but his shot missed the goal by 3 yards. However, soon afterwards, RENATO managed a 5th by lobbing their keeper from 25 yards out.
However, on 70 minutes a corner from our left saw hesitancy in the box result in a consolation goal for the opposition. This was followed 9 minutes later by yet another goal for the Falcons where a shot low to the ground beat Junior from 15 yards out.
The Loko of old would have started panicking but there was never any chance of this happening despite a few lapses in concentration.
On 70 minutes, Terry, Imants and Renato exchanged passes 30 yards out and eventually released it onto DAVE K who strode into the box and beat the keeper with a diagonal shot for number 8 from 5 yards out.
This was followed by two almost carbon copy goals where, first, Terry’s corner from the left saw unchallenged RENATO head the ball just under the bar and then, following another cross from Imants on the left, RENATO crowned his performance with a tenth Loko goal.
With the exception of Marcel clattering into one of their forwards rather vigorously and almost leaving him for dead, the rest of the half passed off uneventfully as Loko were understandably catching their breath after what will remain a record-breaking score for the Railwaymen.
Club Secretary Ivan Rahal commented: ‘This is undoubtedly the performance of the season with everything clicking into place. A no-nonsense defence, a creative and aggressive midfield and dazzling forward play. A perfect ten indeed.
Man of the Match: Tough one this week…Not…Renato deserves the plaudits for his clinical performance today where every strike looked like it was going to result in a goal. This doesn’t take away though from the whole team performance where Dave K deserves a special mention for his three-goal spree and so does every single man on the pitch today.
Team line-up:
Junior
Stefano (then Serik, 55 minutes)
Steve
Chris
Ivan (then Marcel, 55 minutes)
Gavyn
Dave J (then Matthew, 55 minutes)
Terry
Imants
Dave K
Renato
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