League - Sportsmans League, Division 2
Sunday 18 Nov
Accrington Stanley Bowles 1 vs Loko 2
SLOW OUT OF THE STARTING BLOCKS BUT YET ANOTHER WIN
In the absence of Manager Terry who was sunning himself in Spain and Tommy who did his back in the day before the match, Loko still turned up at Riverside Lands with a large enough squad of 13.
Compared to the smooth surface at our homeground, Riverside Lands’s bumpy, sticky surface and long grass didn’t make it easy to deploy a good passing game.
Accrington Stanley Bowles though didn’t deliberate over the merits of the surface as they went for the jugular right from the start. They dominated the midfield and were launching numerous attacks down the middle and the wings.
Based on the fact that they demolished Real Northern the week before, Loko should have been worried. However, their efforts proved rather futile. Their forwards were very wasteful and lacked precision in front of goal.
Plus, Loko keeper John was at his imperial best, showing great assurance in the box.
The game was one way-traffic but after the first 15 minutes, it became evident that this was not going to be a cliff hanger, more about a game that promised a lot but delivered little in terms of excitement.
Loko were content to soak up the Accrington attacks, in particular with Said having a very good game and weaving his way out of defence on numerous occasions and being well supported by the rest of the defence.
The odd Loko attacks saw James T run down the wings and passing to his teammates but nothing much was happening with the exception of a couple of Adil shots that went wide and a Dave F freekick that also missed the target by two feet.
The odd corner in Loko’s favour saw Ivan wrestling his marker to the ground as he was getting really annoyed with the close attention. Apart from that, nothing much happened in the first half.
As the second half got underway, Loko were becoming more assured. Yet, on 51 minutes, Said tried to deflect a shot from one of their forwards but in a rather comical way. His attempt was reminiscent of Ibrahimovic’s wonder goal vs England in the week, except that his effort - although spectacular -was on his own goal! Thankfully, the scorpion style overhead kick hit the upright to all Loko players’ relief!
On 68 minutes, a midrange pass from the midfield saw Adil escape his marker down the right wing and avoid the oncoming keeper for the ball to hit the upright and bounce back in front of JAMES T who simply had to tap it in.
Accrington Stanley Bowles 0 vs Loko 1
Loko were now beginning to dominate and the breakthrough came 9 minutes later. A Matt freekick from the half way line found Adil in the penalty box but their defender shoved our centre forward in the back only for the ball to end up with JAMES T again who flicked it into the empty net.
Accrington Stanley Bowles 0 vs Loko 2
Loko were now firmly in control and Accrington’s chins were visibly on the floor.
There were a few more chances for Loko including an Andr, shot where he turned his marker and curved the ball to the right hand side of the goal and a few more attempts by James T and Adil.
With 5 minutes on the clock though, Accrington grabbed their chance when their number 10 took a shot from 26 yards completely unchallenged and his screamer hit the roof of the net.
Loko were solid though and hung on to their lead.
Final score: Accrington Stanley Bowles 1 vs Loko 2
Club Secretary Ivan said: “Yet another good win – apart from the fact that we have talent in the team I put it down to good team spirit and the benefit of having the core of the team turning up week in week out – let’s keep it up!”
Man of the Match (public vote): Marcel (pictured) – arguably the most energetic man on the pitch! Well done!
Line-up: John – Neil, Said, Ivan (then Dave 55’), Marcel – Matt, Lawrence, Dave F, Kevin (then Andre 60’), James T - Adil
No comments:
Post a Comment