Sunday, March 22, 2015

Match Report: Lonsdale FC vs Loko

Sportsman's League,
Senior Amateur Division

Sun 22 March 2015
Lonsdale FC 2 vs Loko 2


GRUDGE MATCH - WHAT GRUDGE MATCH?




In view of the recent history between the 2 clubs, the run-up to this week's game was strangely subdued.

True, skipper Matt's whatsapp post referred to it as a "big game" but, as it turned out, this was more a request for available bodies rather than a battle cry. Even John, who would normally never want to miss a game vs Lonsdale, was unavailable. On their side, their big, iconic centre half Adolf didn't make the game, which somehow took the sting out of the game.

On the morning of the match, the Loko players turned up promptly but Lonsdale FC casually strolled in 10 minutes late.

In the early stages of the game, it quickly became obvious that, unlike previous weeks, Loko had a lot of firepower with Adil, Dave K and new boy Miller (pictured above right) bound to cause Lonsdale problems.

The first 15 minutes were all Loko with only the occasional Lonsdale foray into the Loko half.

On 17 minutes, a Matt corner from the right connected with Ivan's head but his header got cleared by a Lonsdale player on the goal line.

4 minutes later, Adil waltzed past two players and into their box and rolled the ball across to MILLER who scored the opener as his shot hit the keeper's right shin but ended up in the back of the net.

Lonsdale FC 0 vs Loko 1

This should have settled things down for Loko but it had the reverse effect. Lonsdale were now more aggressive on the ball and, sadly, this also seemingly coincided with a lot of play-acting on their part. Thankfully, the ref (T.Pickering) was always fair and kept things under control throughout.

Loko were playing a physical game, especially Beni and Dave K, whilst Marcel was having one of his best games for Loko as he was repelling Lonsdale attacks down the wing and heading balls out of trouble time and time again.

On 30 minutes, a backpass to Ismail saw our stand-in keeper miskick the ball on the edge of the box but with an open goal beckoning their number 10 missed the target from 6 yards out.

On 37 minutes, an attack down our right wing saw Neil and Mark attack the same ball and with Mark failing to clear the ball, their nippy number 8 crossed the ball high into our box and with Marcel faced with two forwards, their number 7 tapped the ball into our net at the far post.

Lonsdale FC 1 vs Loko 1 

Things took a turn for the worse on 54 minutes.

As Lonsdale were now pushing us more and starting to pepper our goal, a cross from our right was intercepted by Ivan but his clearance was too weak as it only travelled a yard and fell to the feet of one of their forwards who arrowed a shot past Ismail and into the bottom left corner.

Lonsdale FC 2 vs Loko 1

Oz came on for Ivan and, five minutes later, Dave K, who was having a very good game, came off for Dave F, who was carrying a hamstring injury.

Loko were now struggling to develop their game and were always at risk of being hit on the break by an increasingly confident and fluent Lonsdale team.

On 69 minutes, Miller went on a sensational run down the left wing that was reminiscent of Gareth Bale's goal for Real Madrid vs Barcelona in the 2014 Copa del Rey final. The new boy covered half of the pitch as he skipped past several defenders down the pitch but, sadly, only passed to Adil - who was lurking in the box - at the last minute and the angle was too tight for Adil to find the net.

Miller redeemed himself on 73 minutes when he got fouled on the left hand side of the Lonsdale box, Dave F rolled the resulting freekick across the pitch for MILLER who scored with a lethal shot just above the keeper's head from 25 yards out.

Lonsdale FC 2 vs Loko 2

Despite having the wind in their sails, Loko were unable to capitalise when Miller went on yet another run but didn't release it in time for Adil who was ready and waiting and yet another opportunity went begging.

With only 5 minutes left, a long Lonsdale shot from the right was heading for the roof of the net but Ismail pulled yet another save of the week.

As the ref was about to blow the final whistle, Lonsdale were awarded a last corner from the right. The in-swinging corner kick flew dangerously close to our net and found their unmarked number five who scored to cap Lonsdale first win of the season but the sighted ref spotted a handball and disallowed the goal.

As the ref blew the final whistle on a generally fair and clean game, it felt a bit weird to have managed to complete a game vs Lonsdale given the two failed previous attempts in Sept and Jan. Grudge match - what grudge match?


Man of the Match:
Miller scored two great goals but the award this week goes to MARCEL (pictured above) who excelled himself throughout.

Line-up: Ismail - Neil, Mark, Ivan (then Oz, 55'), Marcel - Beni, Matt, Hayden, Dave K (then Dave F, 60') - Adil, Miller

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