Recap
Stalemate
Following their first defeat of the season last weekend against Pychowianka, the Dragoons looked to get back to winning ways at home against Kolejarz/Prokocim II.
The Expats made four changes to the line-up, with Jacob Biddlecombe returning in goal. Piotr Hajnrych, Yuri Samyonov and Adrian Paliś also made way for Simon Calabrese, Flavio Nkola and Joaquin Serrano.
In only the first minute of the game, the Dragoons had the ball in the visitors net. Michał Nowak threw the ball long into the box. It bobbled around and eventually landed at the feet of Flavio Nkola. The Angolan hit an effort that deflected on its way to goal and Rohit Chandran reacted fastest to poke the ball into the net.
The celebrations did not last long however, as the assistant referee flagged with Chandran being in an offside position in the build-up.
Moments after, Kolejarz/Prokocim spurned a glorious chance to take the lead. A miscued clearance gifted the visitors the ball out wide. A cross came into the box and found the head of an unmarked attacker, who somehow nodded wide from close range.
A frantic opening saw the Dragoons come close almost immediately after. Another long throw found the head of a stooping Josh Dawson. On this occasion, the defender could not trouble the target, sending the ball inches wide.
In the 15th minute, a great burst of pace and trickery saw Flavio Nkola get into the visitors box. He sent a teasing ball across the face of the goal, but no blue shirts could get on the end of the pass.
Big Chance Passes
A minute later, Joaquin Serrano found space and played an inch perfect pass to Nkola. With just the keeper to beat, the winger looked certain to score, but blasted his effort over the crossbar.
Shortly after, Enrico Forabosco struck the post after a great interchange between Nkola and Serrano. However, should the ball have gone into the net it would not have counted as the Italian was deemed to be offside.
Two chances in consecutive minutes almost saw Kolejarz/Prokocim take the lead. The visitors worked the ball down the right flank and a cross into the box, once again found a player unmarked. A vicious volley went towards the Dragoons goal, but went just wide.
Kolejarz/Prokocim came even closer with their next opportunity. A poor clearance from Biddlecombe saw the ball fall to Pavlo Hryshkevych, who lashed a shot at goal, which missed the post by a whisker and went wide.
The visitors began to cause trouble for the Dragoons and continued to come close, but unable to trouble Biddlecombe in between the posts.
Dragoons Fail To Take Their Chances
Into the 34th minute, the Dragoons again came close to stealing a goal against the run of play. Once again the chance came from a long throw, with Dawson the recipient. The big defender got up well to win the ball, glancing a header millimetres wide.
The visitors continued to find joy down the right flank and Szymon Roborzyński managed to get through into the Dragoons box. The attacker hit a firm shot, but could only lace his chance into the side netting.
Long throws appeared to be the Expats only weapon in the game thus far and another ball into the box bobbled against the turf and hit the crossbar. The visitors could not clear the danger and Josh Dawson tried to take advantage, hitting a shot towards goal. The ball rebounded off of a defender and into the path of Forabosco on the edge of the penalty box. The Italian arched and sent a curling effort wide of the goal.
So Close To The Opener!
A few minutes after, Joaquin Serrano pulled off a beautiful bit of skill to get away from a defender. The Spaniard hit a fizzing effort from 30 metres out, beating the goalkeeper all ends up, however, the ball crashed against the crossbar and bounced away.
The Dragoons seemed to be finding some rhythm as the half wore on and again came close from a long throw. Dawson once again rose highest, but could only find the waiting grasp of Dawid Kubański in the visitors goal.
The final chance of the half came from a free-kick for the visitors. Hubert Wasilewski shot at goal with his left foot, but Biddlecombe easily gathered.
Second Half
Kolejarz/Prokocim came flying out of the traps as the second half began. The visitors targeted the Dragoons flanks and a great cross-field pass saw an opportunity deflected for a corner.
The occasion saw Biddlecombe punch clear from under his own bar, for another corner kick. A visiting player won the subsequent ball into the box, but could not trouble the target.
Into the 57th minute, Wasilewski had a great opportunity to open the scoring for the visitors. The winger had time, but could only blast his shot miles over the bar.
Ogórek Opener!
The visitors made no mistake a minute later. A foul 30 metres from goal gifted Kolejarz/Prokocim a shot on goal. The resulting free-kick bounced up right in-front of Biddlecombe, with the custodian unable to hold onto the ball. A rebounded effort bounced straight off of the chest of the keeper and a second follow up saw Piotr Ogórek pounce to put the ball into an unguarded net for 1-0.
Just after going behind, the Dragoons came close to pulling level. A corner into the box saw Calabrese flick on the ball towards the back post. Josh Dawson looked to get his head on the ball as it flashed across the face of the goal, but was unable to make a connection.
Adrian Paliś entered the pitch straight after the chance replacing Rohit Chandran. The striker showed his confidence immediately, blasting a shot miles wide from just inside the visitors half.
The visitors continued to hit the Dragoons flanks, and another long ball caused problems for the backline. With the opponents outnumbering the Expats as they came forward, a poor cross into the box saw the danger pass.
Another free-kick on the edge of the box, gave Kolejarz/Prokocim another shooting chance. On this occasion, Biddlecombe got down well and saved comfortably.
Panie Sędzio!
With 15 minutes left on the clock, Flavio Nkola showed skill to beat his man and was mercilessly fouled as he looked to run through on goal. The referee appeared to go to his back pocket to give a deserved red card, but changed his mind producing only a yellow.
Enrico Forabosco took the resulting free-kick, but could not beat the visiting wall and the chance for an equaliser passed.
Paliś The Punisher
On the 80th minute mark, the Dragoons managed to grab an equaliser. Substitute Martin Voženílek received a pass from Nowak and accelerated down the right flank. The Czech national produced a cross straight into the path of Paliś, who turned with the ball and toe-poked home beyond Kubański to make it 1-1.
Almost immediately, the Dragoons went on the attack to try and steal a victory. A weak effort from Emre Çolakoglu saw Kubański easily save.
The Dragoons continued to pour forward and should have taken the lead in the 83rd minute. Flavio Nkola made his way down the left and found Paliś in acres of space in the box. With just Kubański to beat, the usual deadly striker passed the ball straight at the custodian. The goalkeeper could not gather the loose ball, however Paliś fouled the covering defender in his attempt to get onto the rebound.
Another long throw found Enrico Forabosco in space in the box. The Italian misread his lines however, smashing the ball high and wide.
Last Minute Mayhem!!
Into the last minute, a counter-attack saw the visitors re-take the lead. With the Expats throwing everything forward, the visitors broke away three men on two. Despite being in an offside position and the assistant referee flagging, Krzysztof Marut continued his run and put the ball into the net. The Dragoons ran over to the referee to protest the decision, however a touch from captain Mark Szczesznowicz in the build-up saw the goal rightly given.
With another defeat looming, the Dragoons rallied to grab a last gasp equaliser.
A free-kick into the box from Forabosco saw Nowak leap highest. The full back failed to make connection on the ball, which hit the unfortunate Rafał Kwieciński and bounced into his own net to bring the score to 2-2.
The final whistle blew almost immediately after, with the Dragoons nicking a point at the death.
In truth, the Expats put in a poor performance and struggled to make the ball stick in attack. A lack of movement throughout the pitch, saw the Dragoons unable to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Kolejarz/Prokocim looked to take advantage of the space on the flanks and could easily have been out of sight in the first half.
With only one point from two home matches, the Dragoons will have to pick themselves up and go again versus 9th place Universum next weekend. Rybitwy’s 4-0 thrashing of Bronowicki means that there is only a four point gap between the two sides at the top of the table. On the first half of the season the Expats beat Universum by 3-0 in a glorious sunny afternoon of football at Nadwiślan.
