Oh man! What an end to a pretty boring match! I had not shouted as much as yesterday since Torbinsky's extra time goal against the Dutch!! As Sychev lined up for the freekick I was more than resigned for a draw, and more importantly for a place in the upcoming UEFA Champions League!! The fact that 10 minutes before the same Sychev missed a penalty justified my disbelief that Lokomotiv WOULD HAD NEVER ended their home season on such a high!! In addition recall that Lokomotiv HAD NEVER beaten Amkar at Lokomotiv Stadium before. Watch and learn Rakhimov!! With Semin at the helm dreams are the stuff for us Lokomotiv fans!! With Semin and maybe another player or two, next season could really be our year!! Mind me, there is also the talk of a possible return of another idol, Marat Izmailov...do you remember him??? For sure his return would send the red-green fans into raptures; the same as Captain Sychov sent them yesterday with his goal!! Unlike me, the fans at the stadium believed in the team and cheered on them till death.....Enthrallingly this may have triggered Sychev as he let a thunderstrike which not even five keepers would have saved it!! The guy does have red-green blood running in his veins!!! It's true that his shoot was nothing special in the eye, however all those who followed Sychev this season believe that his heart went out with his shot. Finding such strength at the 93rd minute - and after running all over the pitch (in certain cases he also tracked back as far as to the corner flag) - and playing with a player less for more than 35 minutes - is something which I deem abnormal - power of will maybe?! Im sure it was!! (Actually Sychev later confessed that he felt something strange inside him that sort of forced him to take the freekick!!) Lokomotiv is your home Dmitry!! A true captain!!
Back to the chronicle, our Saviour Yury Semin was forced to ring the changes to the starting formation as Lokomotiv had to make without a host of important players. Kocsis slotted in as right back as Kuzmin and Kambolov were both disqualified. Rodolfo was deemed unfit again and thus Basha took his role. Another suspended man was former Perm midfielder Dujmovic. In light of this Semin fielded a 4-3-1-2 formation. Guilherme started between the posts while Yanbaev and Asatiani completed the back four. Charles, Glushakov and Torbinsky started in the midfield while Gatagov assisted Odemwingie and Sychev up front.
As I had already reckoned, the match was quite lacking in terms of chances. Guilherme was rarely called into action as Amkar troubled the guests only once. On the other hand, Lokomotiv, despite dominating possesion (more in the second than in first, unexplainably even more with a man down) found it bit difficult to trouble Usminsky. Actually it took Lokomotiv the best of 34 minutes to trouble the opposition's keeper as Charles' angled shot was turned around the post by Usminsky. That proved to be the only scare as the referee sent both sets to the dressing roam.
Gladly, the second half kicked off in little bit different way as Lokomotiv came out in search for the vital goal. Actually within minutes they nearly broke the deadlocked as Kocsis seemed certain to deposit the ball into open net. However this wasn't the case as Kocsis failed to connect with the cross. On the 54th minute tragedy struck at Lokomotiv. When Lokomotiv finally looked to have taken the overhand, Charles was sent off after he was shown the second yellow card for foolishy disrupting a quick-taken freekick!! Amazingly, the sending-off seemed to have rather lifted Lokomotiv than demoralised them as from then on it was only Lokomotiv; however with no end result. Passion was running high amongst the players and with 15 minutes to go this was transmitted to both head coaches as they bursted onto pitch in qucik succession to show their disagreement with the referee! At a given moment they even confronted each other! With 5 minutes remaining and a draw on the cards, Lokomotiv were awarded a penalty as Zhilyaev tumbled Sychev! The latter steadied himself, but unfortunately his crashing shot was punched clear by Usminsky. Sychev fell to the ground and couldn't believe what he had just missed.
Despite only 2 minutes of regular time remaining, a player down and no luck at all, the fans at the stadium still believed that Loko could win the three points and they continued to encourage and cheer the guys....and man they were damn right!! 2 minutes, 47 seconds after regular time and Lokomotiv Stadium erupted!!! Strangely enough Sychev steadied himself for a freekick (usually it's either Odemwingie, Wagner or Torbinsky), and with the fans in front of him, Sychev let a rocket which rifled into the net!! The way everything happened, it seemed that the freekick was taken by the whole Loko fans rather than by only Sychev!! 1-0 was the final score as Loko fans remained to celebrate at the stadium!!!!
Recall that being the last home match, yesterday's win meant that Lokomotiv kept the record of being the only Russian Premier Liga side that never lost at home!! Actually, Lokomotiv won 10 and drew 5 times, recording 35 points in the process. Congratulations!! Player Ratings
Guilherme - 6.5 - Nothing significant to do.
Kocsis - 7 - Never troubled at the back. Bombed forward.
Asatiani - 7.5 - Neutralized Kushev, had one amazing forward run.
Basha - 7 - Deputised well for Rodolfo. Clearly not a bench player.
Yanbaev - 6.5 - Quite a quiet game from the Russian Speedy Gonzalez.
Charles - 4.5 - Got foolishly sent off.
Torbinsky - 7 - sprayed some good balls. Hard-working performance as ever.
Glushakov - 5 - wasn't fit and was unsurprisingly replaced early in the match.
Gatagov - 7 - Brought the freekick which eventually brought Loko the 3 points.
Gatagov - 7 - Brought the freekick which eventually brought Loko the 3 points.
Odemwingie - 6.5 - All running with no end product. No one can explain why he is not capable of replicating his international form in Moscow.
Sychev - 8 - An all action performance from the captain! Missed a penalty but made amends with a blast. Industrious performance!
Sychev - 8 - An all action performance from the captain! Missed a penalty but made amends with a blast. Industrious performance!
Substitutions
Wagner - 7 - Brought extra creativity into the match. Actually Lokomotiv started playing on his introduction. Welcome back Wagner!!
Highlights of the match can be viewed here
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