Senior Amateur Division
Sun 19 October 2014
Real Northern (A) 2 vs Loko 1
PREPARATION PREVENTS PATHETIC PERFORMANCE
Loko turned up bright but not so early on Sunday at home at King’s House. With Manager Woody away for the weekend, captain Matt took charge of the 14-man strong squad.
Right from the word go, Real Northern A – who didn’t look much different from their B team – took charge. Loko looked out of shape, out of control and out of ideas.
Our opponents started bombarding our goal and we were unable to deploy our game at all. Some of our players were either panicking and giving the ball away cheaply or really not up for it unlike John who was his unflappable self and the main reason – along with Real Northern’s lack of composure in front of goal – why we kept a clean sheet for so long.
Our keeper could indeed have been the hero of the first half, too. His 80-yard goal clearance on 11 minutes flew over the Real Northern A defence and their keeper’s head but the man with the number 1 shirt tipped the ball over the bar and out of danger at the last minute. All in all, this was almost a carbon copy of John’s wonder goal against the very same team last season!
Only on very few occasions did Loko look the part. Matt was spraying balls around the park in his naturally unhurried way whilst Neil, Beni, Danny and James T were expanding vast amounts of energy but the rest of the team were either subdued or having a terrible time of it.
On 20 minutes, John dived to his right and saved a hard shot from the edge of our box that looked like a certain goal whilst, at the other end, a brilliant pass from Adil to James T down the middle of their defence saw our forward shoot but denied by their keeper.
On 31 minutes, Loko went behind when a ball down our left wing saw Marcel and John get into each other ‘s way an,d with the ball rebounding off John, their number 11 tapped into our empty goal from 1 yard out.
Real Northern A 1 vs Loko 0
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Five minutes later, Luke lunged forward and cut one of their players in half. It looked like a clear cut sending-off offence from the touchline but Luke was very lucky to get away with just a yellow card.
The last few minutes saw Real Northern score again on 40 minutes but their goal was disallowed for offside. This was followed by a Real Northern freekick which John tipped over the bar.
As the ref blew his whistle to signal half time, you wondered how Loko managed to be only 1 goal down as Real Northern should have been at least 4 – 0 up.
Half time: Real Northern 1 vs Loko 0
The second half got off to a more promising start.
On 49 minutes, Danny, who was now playing in central defence to give Loko more pace at the back, passed to Matt who laid it off for Dave F who made a stunning pass to JAMES T who was now in one of his favourite positions – one on one against a keeper on the edge of the box. As usual, our forward calmly chipped the keeper and the ball ended up in the back of the net.
Was this the first sign of yet another typical second half Loko comeback?
On 53 minutes James almost gave us the lead when he shot on goal but their keeper saved by diving to this right. The resulting corner saw Neil go up and his header went just over the bar.
On 60 minutes, Real Northern got yet another goal disallowed when their number 9 rifled a shot into John’s far corner.
On 65 minutes, just after Luke had to leave the field after turning his ankle, a Real Northern corner saw Beni head the ball out of danger but as the ball was finding his way back into our box, two of their players were lurking, unmarked within 1 yard of our goal line, and their number 8 scored with a diving header low to the ground.
Unlike previous weeks, Loko never looked like they stood any chance of equalising and we conceded our second league defeat of the season with our players trooping off the pitch looking sorry for themselves.
This division is much tougher than last season and despite the odds, Loko have strung together some reasonable results in the first 2 months of the season. This may be why complacency has crept in.
Most other teams either train in the week and/or turn up on time every week and have a proper warm-up. Not so the mighty Loko. Our lack of fitness is there for all to see. Plus, for the past two weeks, half of the team have been turning up at the last minute. The result? Too many players looking out of it in the first half and the whole team having to chase the game in the second half.
Arguably our best first half performance was in the first game of the season vs Lonsdale when we looked like a proper football team. Surely it is no coincidence that, on that day, the whole team were on the pitch a good 30 minutes before kick-off.
So what do we want to be? A bunch of unprepared losers who are going to be struggling all season and moaning about the ref not blowing the whistle in our favour. A sour bunch boasting we are better than the opposition (but still losing?)
Where is your pride Loko? So for the sake of your teammates, I say to these players (you know who you are) who turn up late week in week out, stop now. Stop penalising your teammates who have made an effort, get yourself organised or buy yourself an alarm clock.
Man of the Match: a toss-up between two players this week. John was superb in goal again but, for the sake of rewarding new players who have done themselves proud, this week’s award goes to
DANNY who ran himself into the ground in midfield and defence.
Line-up: John – Dan R (then Hassan 80’), Neil, Mark, Marcel (then Dave F, 46’) – Beni, Matt, Danny, Luke (then James L, 65’) – Adil, James T
4 comments:
Why don't you start the players who show up on time?
Good point but you need a bigger team to do something like that n second we don't train cause we live all over d place so can't be done.
Why is the manager a self righteous bellend?
If stating the facts qualifies as being a bellend then you re big hypocrite.
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