Lokomotiv back on its' rails!!

After the disappoiting defeat to Terek Grozny last weekened, today a win for Lokomotiv was a must in order to keep up with the others for a place in the Champions League. For sure the fixture schedule didn't helped the situation for Lokomotiv as they had to face leaders Rubin Kazan, who were bouyed from a scintillating performance against Italian champions Inter. Given the situation of both clubs, a draw was on the cards. A win would have meant a bonus for the winner. This time round lady luck smiled on Lokomotiv, as with a pleasing performance the men in red-green were able to take the whole three points from the encounter with a 2-1 win. Despite we were a little bit lucky, I can't take any credit off the players. From first to finish Lokomotiv played a very disciplined match were they weren't only able to neutralise Dominguez & co but also to play some pleasing football by passing the ball around like the team did back in 2004/2005; to be sincere it was a little bit nostalgic. Torbinsky was all over the park, Dujmovic was aggressive as ever while the central duo were colossus at the back. Guilherme did the rest. Maybe, finally Loko found the man capable of taking the mantle left by Ovchinnikov over three years ago.

Keeping my favourite formation of 4-2-3-1, Semin ringed the changes from last encounter. Kuzmin replaced Kocsis on the right while there was no place for Alan Gatagov and Sani Kaita in the starting eleven. Denis Glushakov and the returning Charles took their place respectively. Moreover there was not even a place on the bench for Sani Kaita; the reason is unknown to me. Actually I didn't found any news concerning him such as being unavailable or other. Maybe Semin was baffled by his display last week? I don't know. Anyways, the rest of the formation was as usual with Torbinsky yet again confirmed in the starting eleven. As expected there was no place for Wagner. However, good news for all Lokomotiv fans. According to fclokomotiv.com, Wagner will be able to feature in the upcoming cruncher at Spartak.

For sure Yury Semin, who wanted a win for all costs, ordered his team to find out an early goal in order to tranquil them a little bit. Within two minutes Lokomotiv delivered. Rodolfo picked the ball in his own half and tried to pick out Sychev who was completly unmarked on the right. His long ball, although deflected by Ansaldi found its way to Sychev whose first touch low cross was turned into the net by Odemwingie. Lokomotiv stadium erupted. What a start!!! Encouraged by the start, Lokomotiv continued to impress and locked Rubin in their own half in the opening minutes. On the quarter mark, Rubin were forced to replace Kasaev as the latter couldn't recover from Charles' challenge. Youngster Balyaikin took his place; to be sincere the 21 year old lad impressed me alot throughout the match. After the substution the match lost some of its tempo as Rubin were happy to pass around the ball in their half in order to lessen Loko's aggressiveness. However still Lokomotiv came close to double to score twice through Odemwingie and Sychev. Rubin replied through a well taken freekick from Dominguez, to which Guilherme was equal to it. With ten minutes to half time, Lokomotiv doubled the advantage. The goal itself was a total fluke. Cesar Navas played a back pass to Rhyzikov, who unpressed elected to pass the ball back to sender rather kick it up. His decision resulted to be a poor one as his miskick hit Odemwingie on his chest and the ball rebounded into the net. 2-0 for Lokomotiv. Few maybe thought that the game was over for Rubin, however soon Dominguez nearly re-opened the game as his shot skimmed the up-left. 2 up at half time.

Conscious of Spartak's win and the two goal deficit, Rubin came out looking for an early goal. On the hour mark Guilherme's reflexes were put on show. A cross from the right by Dominguez was met perfectly by Ryazantsev who in open goal looked certain to score. Amazingly Guilherme managed to turn and deflect the ball to corner. The best save to date. This was sign of things to come. With 15 minutes left Rubin re-opened the match. Torbinsky fouled Balyaikin just outside the box and the resultant freekick was met by Salukvadze who from close range headed in. These two actions sandwiched Charles substitution who had to be replaced by Kocsis due to injury. I hope that the injury isn't bad. Get well soon Charles, there is a derby to play!! The goal lifted Rubin and thus Lokomotiv locked back and tried to keep hold of their lead. Actually Semin replaced Odemwingie with Kambolov. Despite Rubin enjoying the biggest fair of possesion it was Lokomotiv who came close to score again through Asatiani's header. The score remained the same as Sukhina blew the final whistle, 2-1 for Lokomotiv and 6 points adrift from first place. . . .euro-football.ru said that Lokomotiv made a favour to Spartak, however who knows with 6 matches to play...with Semin everything is possible!!!

Lokomotiv Moscow 2 - 1 Rubin Kazan
(Odemwingie 2', 35' - Salukvadze 75')
Referee: Stanislav Sukhina
Attendance - 15,210

Player Ratings

Guilherme - 7.5 - A world class save was the cream of his strong performance. Dominated his area and communicated well with the back line. The new Boss!

Kuzmin - 7 - Regained his place and did relatively well. Looked calm and put in some good tackles

Asatiani - 7.5 - Colossus at the back. Let no one and nothing getting past him. Unlucky not to score.

Rodolfo - 7 - Very impressive. Made some good tackles. Developed a perfect understanding with Asatiani.

Yanbaev - 7 - Impressed Hiddink for sure! Never stopped running on the left and linked up very well with Torbinsky.

Dujmovic - 7 - Did what is required to him. Sprayed around some balls and latched into some crunching tackles. A machine in the middle of the park

Charles - 7 - Came back from injury and played very well. Neutralised Dominguez completly until he suffered the injury.

Odemwingie - 7.5 - Was all over the park and took his two goals very well. Encouraging match from the Nigerian. Some touches were of real class. A big-match player.

Glushakov - 7 - Ran and ran and ran. Amazing work rate. Linked up very well with the remaning of the midfield

Torbinsky - 8 - Dominated the midfield. A true warrior. A performance which varied from attacking and defending. Sprayed in some delicious balls and won countless balls on the other end. Personally man of match.

Sychev - 7 - Assisted Odemwingie for the first goal and linked up well with Odemwingie. Dear Guus, don't you think it's time to axe Pavlyuchenko for Sychev? Industrious performance.

Substitions

Kocsis - 6.5 - Didn't put a foot wrong.

Kambolov - 6.5 - Did what required to him.

Gatagov - N/A - No time to impress.