9 men Lokomotiv escape with a draw

What a frustating night!! Missing a penalty, getting 2 players sent-off, missing two glorious chances at the end, could have been worser? Perhaps. This is because at least Lokomotiv were lucky enough to hold Krylya Sovetov at bay and record a blank draw. Although Lokomotiv came with the intent to take home the whole three points, given the circumstances I think that the draw should be considered a positive result. Although Lokomotiv looked toothless even when being 11 against 11, at least, Lokomotiv were capable of showing some resolute defending and protect Guilherme from any genuine chances. Actually, throughtout the whole 90 minutes Guilherme made only one genuine chance. Credit to the whole defence, including the debutant Roman Shishkin who had quite an impressing debut. As the attack, today Loko's midfield was really poor. Tomislav Dujmovic was all over the park and put his teammates in a precarious position, Torbinsky made his confidence no favours by missing a penalty and subsequently getting himself off, while Dmitry Tarasov seemed to be a shadow of the Tarasov of the first part of the season. With regards to Odemwingie, I just hope that today's match was his final one. Although he did won the penalty for us, he literally contributed nothing to the visitors and helped little at the back, even when Lokomotiv ended one man down. Disappointing to say the least.

As from the first minute, both clubs came out aggressively looking for a fast opening goal in order to settle the nerves. While Lokomotiv need such goal in order to raise some much needed confidence, the home side, bouyed by their home support were looking to raise their spirits and possibly out of the relegation zone for the first this season. Eventually this led to a lot of midfield play and particularly few shots at goal. Actually it took a while before a side managed to threat the opposing keeper - this after Budylin's shot hit Shishkin and took a very unpredictable trajectory. Fortunately the ball went out for a corner. Minutes passed by, and as Lokomotiv were looking to taking the upperhand, Lokomotiv were rightly awarded a penalty for an irregular blockage on Odemwingie. Upstepped Torbinsky, who looking bereft on confidence shot poorly and softly towards Lobos. This penalty miss looked to have shot Loko's confidence in the head as instantely Lokomotiv started to loose ground. Minutes later, matters went from bad to worse as Dujmovic was rightly given his second car for bruishing an opponent in the head with his elbow.

With Torbinsky playing literally with zero confidence I was expecting that it would be prudent to replace him. Nonetheless he came on for the second half and it was the Poor Odemwingie and the crocked Basha who were eventually replaced by Denis Glushakov and slightly injured Rodolfo respectively. Things didn't improved as within just 10 minutes of play Lokomotiv were left with 9 men on field as the frustated Torbinsky was like Dujmovic showed his second yellow card for what it seemed a normal tackle on the ball. Torbinsky went berserk. Enjoying a two-men advantage Krylya threw everything in attack, but fortunately to us at no avail as Loko's backline produced potentially their best defensive performance of the season. Particular credit goes to Rodolfo who did eveything in his power to preserve an important draw. At death, Lokomotiv could have scored a sensational winner through either Asatiani or a counter attack which failed to materialise. Ultimately, Lokomotiv were left with mixed emotions with a nil-nil draw, while Krylya will be hoping that they wouldn't regret their failure to turn their numerical advantage onto goals coming the end of November.

Player Ratings:

Guilherme - 7

Started in a shaky way as twice gifted the ball to the opponents. Grew in stature as minutes went by.

Sishkin - 7.5

Looked the only of having some sort of confidence as he closed down very well and provided a more than reasonable attacking option. Great first touch too. Encouraging debut.

Asatiani - 7

Led the line very well - could have scored the winner

Basha - 5.5

Replaced in the second half

Yanbaev - 7.5

Put behind the bad match last week and his ommision from the national squad by producing an energetic display. Never stopped running.

Dujmovic - 4

Put his teammates in a very difficult position. Expect better from a man with such experience.

Tarasov - 5.5

All over the park in the first period - Strong in the second.
Torbinsky - 4

Missed a penalty and was shown his marching orders. A very bad day for the former Spartak man.

Maicon - 6

Anonymous, especially when Loko ended with 9 players. No one can blame him thou as at least he tracked back a lot.

Odemwingie - 5.5

And I was generous.

Sychev - 6

Troubled Krylya's left back on a couple of occasions. Looked unusually exhausted and was eventually replaced.

Substitutes

Glushakov - 6.5

Protected the back four very well

Rodolfo - 7

Gave his all in the 45 minutes he played.

Smolnikov - N/A

No time to impress