Fyfes 1-2 Maccabi AA6 - 7 May 2007

By Shane Porter

It's hard to write a good report, since i spent a lot of time hanging around beneath the goal posts, but here is what i remember

At 2 minutes before kick off, was looking a bit worrying with only 8 Loko Cove players present. We were very glad of the arrival of 4 more at this point (with the pathetic excuse of "Isnt kickoff at 3.30?"). Although we only managed to get 10 on the field by kickoff, with the arrival of luke and lewis we eventually had a bench

Things started off great for Loko, with good pressure being applied to the Maccabi goal. Curren had an air-swipe at a cross, completely unmarked at the back post, which would have equaled his easy tap-in from the last game 2 weeks ago. A lot of missed shots later saw another chance fall to Curran at the 35th minute mark, with a slow looping header from one side of the goal actually hitting the back post. A lot of hard work was not rewarded, and Eddy Blaxell was again taken off with a head injury. Keeper had no real saves to make, just 2 crosses cut off. The Maccabi striker was constantly offside, and was only dangerous if the ref was not calling everything offside

The half time pep talk obviously did no good, as we conced 2 goals in 2 minutes early in the second half. Substitutions of our left sided players resulted in great confusion, and a rund fro the half way line by a maccabi player allowed him to get a shot on goal from within the box without a tackle being laid. Keeper was out but not enough time to react

A lot of shouting to find out why the left was unguarded resulted in nothing, as two minutes later the same maccabi player made another run down the left. This time he was under pressure, but got to the byline and got a cross to the edge of the six yard box, where an unmarked maccabi striker had an easy tap in.

Loko pressed again, and were rewarded within 5 minutes. Unfortunately it was too far away for me to see who it was, so someone else will have to supply that detail. This was one of the only shots on goal, as we had about 25 shots off target. Target practice is a neccessity for this team!

Loko goal was again threatened late in the game, with one reaction save leaving the keeper wondering "what the hell was that? a ball? where did it go? out? thank heavens for that! i saved it? brilliant!" A couple of through balls were smartly cut off by the keeper before a shot could be made, and corners were dealt with easily by the defenders (except for the 2 corners which went behind the goal)

The ref dissalowed a 3rd goal for Maccabi at the 80th minute, which would surely have sealed the game. Although the Loko players did call for the offside, a player on the far side may have kept him onside. However the goal proved enough for Maccabi, as Loko could not find a second goal

All in all, a very good performance, however striking practice in desperate need. We are very close to our first win.

And apologies for a little white lie i told to the team before the game (i told them the 5's and 8's had both won, leaving the 6's as the only team without a win)