Sun 30 Aug 2015
Loko 3 vs Parthenope 2
RESILIENT LOKO BATTLE HARD FOR THE 3 POINTS
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| Loko in (red) trying to abort a Parthenope attack with Gary, left, Joel (centre) and Miguel (right) |
Parthenope, an Italian-run outfit, have always been excellent and fair-play sparring partners. They play very technical football and are all match-fit, and this turned out to be a challenge throughout the game.
With only 13 minutes on the clock, a foray down Loko's right hand side saw their midfield maestro, number 8 Luca, cross the ball into the middle of the box for their number 12 to slot home to the left of new keeper Tony from 5 yards out.
Loko 0 vs Parthenope 1
A team reshuffle on 20 minutes seemed to coincide with a better Loko patch. True, Loko were still at the mercy of Parthenope's better ball control and pinpoint attacks but, on 31 minutes, Loko equalised when Lee shook off his marker in the box and crossed for Hayden who was lurking close to their defence, connected with the cross and dispatched a low shot to the right of their keeper into their goal.
Loko 1 vs Parthenope 1
On 39 minutes, ex Spurs player Nicky, who had shown flashes of brilliance and close control up until then without fully destabilising their defence, was loitering with intent in their box when their stand-in keeper dropped the ball only for NICKY to slot into the empty goal.
Loko 2 vs Parthenope 1
As things were looking up, several of our new players came out of their shell including triallist Joel who went on a great run past two players down the right wing and Lee who was bossing the midfield and launching attacks down both wings.
Half time Loko 2 vs Parthenope 1
In the early stages of the second half, Parthenope were putting more and more pressure on Loko by going down our right wing in particular and making many incursions into our box.
On 53 minutes as the ball was bouncing around our box as if it were a pinball machine, Tony made a miraculous save by switching sides just after being sent the wrong way following a deflection.
Tony made a few more superb saves and never seemed to be flustered especially from corner kicks as some of the giants in their team were looking to make their general height advantage pay.
Fortunately, Nicky helped calm nerves on 76 minutes. This is when all-action Lee sent a long ball over their defence form the middle of the park that found NICKY on the right wing who controlled the ball and rifled a shot into the far corner from a tight angle from just outside the box.
As the clock was winding down, Loko managed to hang on to the result against a talented but possibly less motivated team.
M.O.M: Special mentions to new boys Tony in goal, Scott and Nicky but M.O.M this week goes to LEE for his non-stop midfield action and two excellent assists.
Line-up: Tony – Ismail, Ivan, Gary, Scott – Matt, Dave F, Lee, Marcel, Hayden – Nicky. Various subs: Miguel, Joel and Woody
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