Sunday, January 29, 2012

Match report - FC Lonsdale - Loko

Sunday 29th January 2012
Friendly

FC Lonsdale 2 v Lokomotiv Londres FC 2 

A tale of the awol ref and 2 misses

No doubt, the 12 Loko-men who turned up promptly at Riverside Lands on a crisp January morning had no idea they were in for a genuine rollercoaster of a match.

With the referee not turning up, Loko were made to kick their heels for an extra 30 minutes. At that point, both teams agreed to referee in turns.

Loko started with a conservative 4-4-3 with new keeper James R standing in for regular goalie Junior. The game was flowing from box to box but Loko were certainly attacking in a more threatening fashion with Terry, James P and Imants often slicing the sluggish Lonsdale defence open. 

In midfield, Gavyn was making his presence felt and got away with quite a few very dangerous tackles that incensed Lonsdale no end.

However, on 28 minutes, Marcel (pictured above) tripped their forward in our box.  Penalty. Their midfielder placed his shot low to the ground but James R pulled off a prodigious save by diving to his left and deflecting the kick into corner. Cue celebrations, hugs and a massive confidence boost for our new goalie.

On 31 minutes, Marcel headed the ball from the halfway line into the path of Imants, who passed to Terry. With JAMES running through the defence, Terry laid the ball on to him on the right hand side of the box for our speedy forward to shoot low to the bottom left of the keeper and into the net in spectacular style.

FC Lonsdale 0, Lokomotiv 1

Four minutes later, with Loko pushing Lonsdale close to their goal line, JAMES’s nimble feet did the talking again when he turned his defender like a flash and despatched the ball with venom to the bottom right of their goal and into the net.

FC Lonsdale 0, Lokomotiv 2

It all looked very promising and Loko were now flying with Imants, Terry and James shooting on sight. Things looked even rosier when Loko were awarded a clear cut penalty just a few minutes later. This was Loko’s chance to give themselves an irretrievable advantage. Imants tried to place the ball to the left of their keeper but their diminutive number 1 saved the penalty with panache.  Loko keeper 1, Lonsdale keeper 1… 

With 5 minutes to half time, their referee blew for a foul on the left hand side of our box when Ivan clattered into their forward. The resulting freekick flew over the wall and was heading for our top left corner; James caught the ball but it slipped from his grasp and ended up in the back of our net.

FC Lonsdale 1, Lokomotiv 2

The second half started with new guy Matthew taking over as ref – and what an introduction it was! Although keen to direct play in an even-handed way, Matthew found himself on the receiving end of constant rebukes by the Lonsdale players. Our new ref was finding it increasingly difficult to restore peace, especially when Gavyn’s foul on one of their players – a clear red card for all to see – went unpunished.

Ivan took over from Matthew and tried to calm things down but pressure was mounting by the minute.  

On 69 minutes, Matthew took out their defender on the left hand side of our box and Ivan had no alternative but to award Lonsdale a penalty. Their midfielder placed it to the left of James who got his hand on it but the ball trickled over the goal line.  

FC Lonsdale 2, Lokomotiv 2

From then on, it became a real battle with aggressive play on both sides and countless fouls. This mayhem was only occasionally interspersed with a few spectacular overhead kicks courtesy of Terry, incursions by James and Imants and good defending by Steve and Stefano in particular.

With 10 minutes on the clock, Imants found himself in a dangerous position on the right hand side of their box but their defender fouled him and Ivan awarded Loko a penalty. This decision triggered deafening protestations from Lonsdale who claimed that Imants had handballed it. 

Amidst the recriminations and shouting, their keeper simply walked off the pitch and so did half their team. As both clubs had agreed that the result would count and sensing that Loko were keen to finish the job, Ivan reluctantly overturned his own decision and awarded Lonsdale a goal kick. But it was all in vain. Lonsdale had decided that they'd had enough. They insisted that the result wouldn’t stand and that it should be counted as a friendly. Over to the league for their decision to call a rematch or award Loko the win, with the former the more likely outcome.

Final score:  FC Lonsdale 2, Lokomotiv 2

Club Secretary Ivan Rahal said: “Some of our play today was very aggressive and some of our tackles probably deserved a few yellow cards or even a red card in one particular incident. Playing a physical game is fine, but as we found out in our previous game, a red card will always be a threat. This can cost us not only vital points but fines too. It also gives me additional admin work, which frankly I can ill afford, so it's now time to cut it out. Having said that, Lonsdale were no saints either and proved very bad (potential) losers. If there is a rematch, it's likely to take place in February or March so let’s get the result we certainly deserved today.” 

Man of the Match: JAMES P– fast and lethal – brilliant performance all around. Special mention  to James R in goal, Steve, Stefano, Imants and Terry.

Line-up:
James R
Stefano
Steve
Chris
Ivan (then Matthew 60 minutes)
Gavyn
Morris
Marcel
Terry
James P
Imants


No comments: