Lokomotiv held by Saturn and looses ground

With 5 rounds remaining, Lokomotiv welcomed Saturn Moscow Oblast at Lokomotiv. With Lokomotiv looking to bounce back from the heavy 3-0 nil defeat to Spartak, for sure the match against Saturn came at the least preferable time. Apart of being a difficult nut to crack down, Lokomotiv had three important players out of the contest. Odemwingie was suspended while Rodolfo was out injured. On the other hand Wagner is still not 100%. As I had predicted, Lokomotiv couldn't beat Saturn and in the end had to settle for a 2-all draw. For sure Lokomotiv ended the match bemoaning the errors at the back which practically gave away the two goal to Saturn. At least, the others results helped our situation. CSKA loss means we are one point a drift of them and a place in Europa League. Furthermore CSKA-beaters FC Moscow are two points ahead of us while Zenit have 5 at 47 points.

As I have already denoted, Semin was forced to make 2 changes from last outing. Basha took the place of Captain Rodolfo while Gatagov replaced Odemwingie. Once again Kuzmin was favoured over Kocsis on the right flank. The match started in a sluggish fashion as both teams were looking to keep things tight at the back in the opening minutes. However within 15 minutes Saturn opened the score. What seemed to be a simple shoulder to shoulder between Asatiani and Topic was deemed illegal by referee Pettay and awarded a golden-wrapped gift to Saturn. Lokomotiv looked on with disbelief; no wonder!! Karyaka steadied himself and made no mistake from 11 metres. However there was no joy for the moment for the Aliens as Pettay ordered Karyaka to take again the penalty. For the second time, Karyaka sent Guilherme the other side and opened the score. 1-0 was at 15 mins and so was the score at half time.

In the second half Lokomtiv came out more aggresively and within 2 minutes the score was even. Torbinsky's corner found Dujmovic completly unmarked and from closed range he headed the ball into the net. The goal seemed to had awaken Loko as they surged forward looking for the second. However, in a rare counter attack, Kuzmin controlled badly the ball and the ball found itself into the path of Kuzmichev who from outside the box rifled the ball into the top left corner. Goal of the match. Given that the men in red-green were aware that losing to Saturn would be catasthrophic, the goal seemed to had motivated Loko as they started to push Saturn into their own half. On the 78th minute Loko were given a helping hand as Zelao was rightly sent off for the second yellow card for a dreadful challenge on Minchenkov. 10 minutes on and Lokomotiv levelled the match yet again. In a way the ball found it way into the path of Sychev who without thinking twice shot the ball past the hapless Kinsky; the ball hitting the upleft on it's way in. 2-2 was the final score.

Player Ratings

Guilherme - 6 - nothing to do apart of picking the ball out of his net twice.

Kuzmin - 5 - his error led to the second goal

Asatiani - 5.5 - was adjudged to had fouled Topic. Poor decision from the ref; however the penalty did made life difficult for Lokomotiv

Basha - 6 - replaced Rodolfo well. However on one occasion his poor decision making scared Lokomotiv

Yanbaev - 6.5 - Usual up-down non-stop running

Dujmovic - 7 - took his goal very well

Charles - 5.5 - at fault for the first goal as he lost the ball and eventually Saturn were awarded the penalty. Misplaced some passes

Gatagov - 6 - somewhat assisted Sychev for the goal.

Glushakov - 6.5 - a high rating for his hard working performance

Torbinsky - 7 - the only player of the current crop who is capable of creating something out of nothing. Assisted Dujmovic for the corner.

Sychev - 7 - snatched the leveller at the death end. Industrious performance from the birthday boy

Substitutions

Minchenkov - 6.5 - played his part in Zelao's red card,

Fall - 5 - Should had scored but his close range effort went wide