Last friendly won

Loko’s starting the last leg of the transitional season in the Russian Premier League on Saturday, March 3. The Railwaymen will be playing host to FC Kuban Krasnodar. The friendly against football club Sporting from Gijon was the last warm-up before the first battle of the championship.

The halves were reduced to 30 minutes each. Six of the Railwaymen were called to their national teams, and short of players Jose Couceiro let captain Dmitry Loskov play from the first minute. Loko’s Number 10 recovered from a serious injury and is now ready for the season. The first quarter of an hour the teams spent sniffing out who’s who, although Loko managed to create scoring opportunities from time to time. Later on, the Railwaymen took control of the game and left for the half-time as top dogs.

In the half-time, Jose Couceiro made several substitutions. The freshmen added spice to the game and one of the subs proved fruitful: 10 minutes into the second half Dmitry Tarasov hammered the ball into the net from a 25-metre distance. Loko continued pressing the opponent for the rest of the game: right-flank defender Maxim Belyaev made a dangerous shot at Sporting’s goal, Felipe Caicedo was constantly testing the Spanish defence and Victor Obinna tried to confuse the opponents by dribbling.

As a result, Lokomotiv brought home a minimal victory over a La Primera team - quite enough to secure a good mood before flying to Moscow. In the Russian capital, the Railwaymen will be getting ready for the start of the final leg of the championship.

Lokomotiv – Sporting (Gijon) 1:0 (0:0)

Foto report can be found here.