It’s Goodnight Vienna…

Locomotive were back to league action at the weekend against a strong Vienna Windows side at Kings Park, however lost to a goal in the 153rd minute.The away side met for an early team-briefing at 9.15, which did not get going until 10, by which time Salvatori was stuffing his face with a bacon sandwich and chips… or was it tea? I didn’t quite hear what he said.

So with little time for preparation (or even warm ups) before the game, Loco took to the pitch with a 3-4-3 formation, which seemed to work a treat throughout the game. Loco were all over Vienna in the first half, and the home side seldom posed a threat. Loco themselves though were not making the most of possession, and it was the final touch that was letting us down. Occasionally the ball was being played into the box, however there was no-one on the end of it at the best of times.

Play was mainly down the central flank in the first half, with Sam and Darren in the centre of the park trying to pull the strings. Although Andy and Lee were the wide midfielders, they were being severely under-used, however when they did get utilised, we won corners, possession, and we even managed to get a few shots in. Salva had a good chance on 31 minutes which he pulled high and wide, and then Dave had a chance on the turn from distance, which was always rising over the bar.

Loco had the wind in the first half, therefore the ball was always going to run away from us, and with the ball not being held up as well as should’ve been, possession did break down easily. The whole side put in a good first half performance though, and with hardly any threats on goal from the lone Vienna striker, things were positive at half-time.

The second half saw Loco playing against the wind, but this helped the ball hold up a lot more.  Vienna surprisingly however didn’t jump at the opportunity to fire shots on goal from distance against Martyn, and instead tried to get the ball wide and ping it into the box instead. Loco on the other-hand were having very little in the way of attacking edge, and the only shots of note in the whole half included a wayward shot from Salva, and a weak effort from Kenny, who had the effort blocked after Dave nodded down a cross-field ball from Darren Mountifield.

Loco weren’t exactly clinging on to the 0-0 result with difficulty, however, all of our efforts became undone in the 96th minute (or so), when a cross-field ball from their right midfielder seemed to run out of play on the goal-line, however, their left-sided man managed to stick out a leg and loop it towards goal, and at the far-post, Windows striker Wayne Murry was on hand to fire the ball home.

And that was it. The final whistle blew moments later, and Loco went off the pitch disconsolate, but more than proud at a good team performance, which on another day, would have seen us as convincing winners. Next week, Loco travel to Magpies and Woolsbridge for what is going to be a very tough encounter.