Sychev penalty enough to see Loko off FC Moscow in derby

A penalty scored by Dmitry Sychev just before the stroke of the half time was just enough to see Lokomotiv beating the challenge of fellow Moscovite team FC Moscow in a derby, which although generally regarded as the least hot Moscow derby amongst all other derbies, in the end it resulted to be quite a heated affair. Despite only 5 yellow cards were shown, the first within just 16 seconds, tackles flew in high and some of them, on another day could have been more severely punished. The penalty was crystal clear, and for sure the citizens cannot even think to complain about it. However on the end, they do have a right to appeal for penalty in the first quarter as Kocsis cleared touched the ball with his hand, even though unintentionally and in a close distance. In this case the Railwaymen were lucky. Huh, no big deal at all. Lokomotiv had been unlucky for nearly half a season. Finally, and really finally, lady luck seem to smile on us. Moreover the win over FC Moscow put Lokomotiv in the momentary third place, surpassing arch-rivals CSKA in the process. CSKA is due to play tomorrow in a yet another Moscow derby, this time versus Dynamo. Well, unsurprisingly tomorrow I will be rooting for the guys in the blue shirt; I just hope they give us a hand to keep our 3rd place.

For the match against FC Moscow, Semin made only 2 changes. Rodolfo, who recovered from injury regained his place in the backline. On the other end Gatagov, replaced the injured Wagner. The other nine were the same as last week's encounter in Nalchik, that is Guilherme in goal; Kocsis, Asatiani, Rodolfo & Yanbaev at the back; and Dujmovic, Glushakov, Odemwingie, Torbinsky, Gatagov together with Sychev made the starting eleven. The match kicked-off in a one hack of aggressive manner. Just 16 seconds on the clock and Martin Jakubko, the Slovakian FC Moscow striker was booked for quite a hard challenge on Dujmovic. I sit and wondered, wow that's an aggressive way to start the match. As minutes passed by, both sets of team seemed very reluctant to stay back and let the other team do the play. Within just two minutes FC Moscow's Belarusian keeper Zhevnov was already on alert in order to deny Gatagov. On the other ended Samedov threatened Loko's back four. The first real chance of the match fell onto the feet of Sychev. A perfect cross from the right was misjudged by Okoronkwo, and with Sychev in the thereabouts, the Russian striker took the ball and hit a crushing shot, to which Zhevnov replied relatively well. Soon after, on the end, a cross from the right from former Loko winger Samedov, sweatly fell into the path of Cesnauskis (who was literally forgotten by Loko backline), who after doing well to take an advantage of the indecisive Guilherme, however failed to deposit the ball into open net as Asatiani recovered well and saved the day for Lokomotiv. By the half of the first half the match was transfered to the middle of the pitch as neither team could play the final ball. Moreover by now the match became truly aggressive. Incredible. To say the truth for a second I wondered if CSKA or Spartak were our opponenets.

Kocsis positioning was once again exposed as Cesnauskis threatened again on the left. However Kocsis recovered well in order to stop the Lithuanian from making damage; albeit replays showed that Kocsis did it with the help of his hand. On the other end, just before the stroke of the half time, Lokomotiv, maybe a little bit undeservly went in front. After playing a good one two with Sychev, Torbinsky stormed into the Citizen's area, only to be illegally stopped by Sheshukov. With no hesitation Sukhina pointed to the spot, whom Sychev confidentially blasted at the top of the net, thus giving Zhevnov no chance. One up for Lokomotiv in the break. In the second half, the players came out a little bit less aggressive. Actually the match lost some of it's momentum and it was no surprise that coming the end of the match, neither Loko nor FK really threatened in the second 45. 1-0 for Lokomotiv was the final score and off to the third place we go; even though momentarily. Go Loko!!

Player Ratings

Guilherme - 6.5 - never really tested. Strong on handling and distribution. Always on alert.

Kocsis - 5.5 - played again out of position. Did relatively well however its clear that the lad never marked a man before. Not so defensively aware and marking really let him down.

Asatiani - 7 - calming presence at the back and did one goal-saving tackle

Rodolfo - 6.5 - captain on the day, marshalled the back four relatively well.

Yanbaev - 7 - seem to be more at home on the left than on the right. Another good match from the Russian Speedy Gonzalez.

Dujmovic - 6 - failed to mark his authority. Flew in some hard tackles. Could have been sent off on another day.

Glushakov - 6 - energetic display from the young midfielder. Had also one good shot

Gatagov - 6 - quite a poor match from the youngster. Need to find a little bit of consistency.

Odemwingie - 5.5 - poor showing like much of the midfield from the Nigerian. Seem to be deeply unmotivated. Should have doubled the score.

Torbinsky - 7 - had some good runs and was the one most likeliest to score. Won the penalty for the men in red.

Sychev - 7 - a relatively quiet game from the striker. Usual work rate and gave no chance to Zhevnov with his penalty.

Substitutions

Kaita - 6.5 - came in for Glushakov and worked very hard in the midfield. Slotted in very well.
Kuzmin - N/A - no time to impress. Wondering why Kocsis is prefered over the former FC Moscow full back.