Match Report: Northcote Falcons vs Loko

Sunday 26th February 2012

Sportsman's League
Division 4

Northcote Falcons 4 v Lokomotiv Londres FC 4

Loko Draw in Epic Second Half

Loko turned up with a full complement of 14 players on a sunny Sunday morning at ILEA. Northcote Falcons are currently propping up Division 4, a position that belies the quality of their passing game, and they only lost by one goal to South West Wolves the week before so Loko knew there was no room for complacency.

Although the first minutes of the game were rather slow, Loko were spending a great deal of time in the Nortchote Falcons half and carving chances from all angles but most of our shots went wide.  On 11 minutes, James did find the back of the net from inside the box but his goal was disallowed for offside. Then followed the usual harrying of defenders by James, Terry and Greg who were combining well whilst Dave K was going on his trademark mazy runs and causing panic in their defence.

Unfortunately, on 20 minutes Greg pulled a hamstring and Luiz came on for him upfront. Loko’s attacks continued unabated though. On 25 minutes, Steve - who had gone up for a corner - got fouled in their box and the Hungarian ref blew his whistle instantly. With Imants not playing this week, Terry knew his chance had come to make up for his penalty miss earlier in the season, which he did by crucifying their keeper.in confident fashion.

Northcote Falcons 0, Loko 1

The last 20 minutes of the first half continued with the same tempo and Northcote’s attacks didn’t threaten much with Ismail having very little to do whilst our defence were closing them down and leaving very few gaps. From Lokomotiv’s side, a clear chance saw Dave F attempt an overhead kick which was cleared on the goal line

Half-time: Northcote Falcons 0, Loko 1

As the second half got underway, Loko were being the dominant force and in full control despite the occasional Northcore foray.

On 65 minutes, an accurate Luiz cross from the left saw KEVIN unmarked in the Northcote box and the man from Limerick’s superb volley hit the spot and their bototm corner from 5 yards out.

Northcote Falcons 0, Loko 2
 
5 minutes later, Dave K found himself dribbling in his own half but he lost control of the ball as he was heading back towards our goal on the edge of our box and fouled their forward. The resulting free-kick was a beauty as it flew past the wall into the roof of the net leaving Ismail no chance at all.

Northcote Falcons 1, Loko 2

Northcote equalised 5 minutes later when a cross from the left connected with Steve’s hand and their number 10 converted the penalty.

Northcote Falcons 2, Loko 2

Loko’s heads dropped to the floor when they scored their third goal with a sweet volley from inside the box.

Northcote Falcons 3, Loko 2

Fortunately, TERRY came to the rescue when he scored from a long through ball where he ran down the edge of the box and drilled the ball past the keeper for his second of the match. Cue shirt-off-here’s-my-spray-tanned torso-Mr-Referee celebrations but the ref put a swift end to it all by showing Terry a yellow card.

Northcote Falcons 3, Loko 3

Two minutes later, it was Steve’s turn to come to the rescue when he cleared the ball off his line following a mix-up with Ismail.

Yet, with 10 minutes on the clock, Northcote scored what looked like a sure winner when their playmaker danced past the defence, sidestepped Ivan and curled the ball into the empty net from the left hand side of the box.

Northcote Falcons 4, Loko 3

To their credit, the railwaymen never gave up. From a corner from the left, Luiz found himself clear 1 yard out on the right hand side of their goal but he skied the ball past their crossbar from a very tight angle.

Great things come to those who can wait. With the clock ticking ominously,   TERRY sprinted past one, then two, then three, then four, then five Northcote players and his shot from inside the box flew past their keeper and into the net for arguably the goal of the season.

Final score: Northcote Falcons 4, Loko 4

Club Secretary Ivan Rahal said: “This was yet another very enjoyable, edge-of-you-seat game - shame about the draw. We do have the players to score goals and to defend but cannot finish our opponents off at the moment. Roll on next week for hopefully our first win of 2012“.

Man of the Match: No contest, a hat-trick including a sensational solo effort, well done Terry. Special mention to Dave J, Steve, Marcel and James.


Line-up:
Ismail - Dave J, Steve, Ivan, Marcel – Dave F (then Hakim 73’), Dave K, Alejandro (then Kevin, 46’) – Greg (then Luiz 20’), James