LFL: TORREENSE
This was just what the doctor ordered. It wasn’t very pretty at times but after the second-half substitutions we were much better and deserved our win with the amount of pressure we made and two great finishes.
BEFORE
I loved our first Europa match and I'm really looking forward to this evening's game. I think we'll get a result and that will go a considerable way in lifting the gloom that has descended over our start to the Premier League. Personally I'm not too bothered about the way things have gone as it's early days and I'm confident that one or two decent results will make that table look a good deal better. There are bound to be a few changes from the side that started against Brighton with Meunier probably missing for a start. It's possible that we may see Brobbey coming on as a sub but of course he won't be rushed. I'd never heard of Torreense before but they won their first Europa game and will be no pushover. We’ll have great support over there as the internet is full of photos of our fans enjoying themselves in the sun. Lucky them. I'll be watching the game in the company of a load of the London Branch and my match prediction is a 2-1 win for us.
I got to the bar at 4.30 and I was the first of us to arrive. On checking the team-news I saw that only three players from the starting eleven against Brighton (Roefs, Hume and Sadiki) were starting. That meant that O’Nien, Alderete, Methalie, Ahoka, Angulo, Rigg Fofana and Tutierov were all beginning the game. The subs bench was looking very interesting especially as both Brobbey and Diarra were on it. No sign of Talbi, though. There were about seventy of our lot in the bar as the game kicked off.
THE MATCH
We won the first corner of the game in the third minute after a defender made a slip in their half. When it came across from our right O’Nien headed not far wide of the left post. We pressed for the next five minutes and won a second corner in the eighth. That one ended in a free-kick against us but we’d made an encouraging start. Four minutes later a low cross went right through their box but nobody was there to steer it home. I felt a goal coming anyway. Actually Torreense starting coming back into the game more and we conceded our first corner in the nineteenth. We managed to head it well clear and that was that. There were a lot of free-kicks being given away and the play was well broken up. By the midway point of the half we were back in the driving seat and in the twenty-fourth Tutierov headed the ball into the net from close range but it was ruled out for offside, I think. Replays showed that the ball had come to him from a defender so the goal should have stood surely. It didn’t.
We soon had another corner on the left but it came to nothing. By the half-hour mark Torreense hadn’t had an attack worthy of the name so the game was there for us to take. I could see Brobbey getting a goal when he came on, as I hoped he would in the later stages. In the thirty-seventh Torreense took the lead and it was a great shot into the top-right corner by centre half Volnei Feltes, who was allowed to run through our defence without much of a challenge. That was their first shot too.
Anyway, there was plenty of time for us to get back into it but we’d have to tighten up at the back. There was some terrible diving from the home players but referee did soon give out the first yellow card, to Mutombo for a foul on Fofana. It led only to a dodgy free-kick to them and Regis was clearly most displeased. Next thing Hume was also booked, for dissent. There was only one minute of added-time and it remained 0-1 as the whistle went. There was a lot of booing, no doubt from our fans. All in all a disappointing and frustrating first-half.
There were no changes as we kicked off again. Two minutes in we were awarded a free-kick on the edge of their box for a blatant elbow-ball but Alderete’s shot was well wide. Fofana put in a great cross from the left but Angulo’s header was wide too.
In the fifty-second we won a corner on the left and it resulted in a free-kick on the right after O’Nien was fouled. It was taken low and a clever back-heel from Alderete went just wide of the post. A bit too clever, maybe. We won another corner in the fifty-sixth but could we get something on target? No. Next thing we had our best chance yet when Angulo put in a great header and Lucas Paes in goal made a very good save to get it away. That was Angulo’s best and last contribution as he was soon replaced by Xhaka. At the same time Methalie, Hume and Fofana were swapped for Reinildo, Mukiele and Le Fee. With over half an hour to go things were looking up, a bit. Torreense had been quiet upfront so far this half but they won a corner in the sixty-sixth. They made nothing of it and then we moved into the last quarter of the match.
With just one more sub left to us, would we risk bringing on Brobbey? As soon as I typed that we were level and it was a great goal. Mukiele twisted and turned at the right of their box before putting in a cross that Ahoka headed brilliantly into the bottom right corner. The bar got into good voice at last. We kept at it and looked recharged so I fancied we might fulfil my pre-match prediction. Mukiele soon burst through and went for goal, though he might have done better to pass. We kept pressing and I felt we were going to nick it. Ten minutes to go and Torreense weren’t having a go at all really so it was up to us to make another chance count. Everyone in the bar was still glued to the screen. We won a corner in the eighty-fourth but nothing doing and then Mukiele was booked, though nobody near me seemed to know why.
Xhaka blasted one well over and then we were awarded a penalty… but we weren’t as the assistant referee had his flag up for offside. Hold on a minute, it went to a VAR review and… they decided it wasn’t a penalty. Six minutes of added-time were announced and in the third of those minutes Sadiki lammed in the winner following great touches from Le Fee and Xhaka and everyone around me went mad. The final whistle soon went to much applause in the bar.
