Recap
Dragoons Lose To Leaders
This weekend saw the Dragoons take on Michałowianka Michalowice on a chilly Saturday afternoon.
Hugo Cruz returned from personal commitments to take the team and made 6 changes to the team that fell to defeat last weekend in Sulechów.
Marcin Obyrtacz continued between the posts, with three changes coming in the backline. Francesco Leuci started for the fourth consecutive game, the only defender to keep his place in the side. Leuci moved to right-back to accommodate Piotr Hajnrych, who came into the team ahead of Roman Bilovol. Josh Dawson and Simon Calabrese started together in the middle of the defence with Jakub Drobny dropping to the bench and Sasha Arshakian unavailable.
A double change in the midfield saw the Dutch duo of Brian Lemmen and Rob Smits returned to the team to partner Jan Krzyżanowski, who kept his place from last weekend.
Into the attack, Enrico Forabosco moved to the right wing, with Vałdzis Fuhaš moving to the left meaning that Barry Chowaniec started in attack on his first game of the season after returning from injury. Rohit Chandran, Błażej Święcicki and Martin Voženílek all dropped to the bench from last weekend’s game.
Kick Off
An impassioned pre-match team-talk by Hugo Cruz, with defined instructions saw the Expats start the game with a bang.
PENALTY DRAGOONS
Excellent defending from Calabrese saw the Italian win the ball on the halfway line to turnover possession. Quick moving football found Forabosco in possession, who slid a delicate pass behind the defence for Chowaniec. The speedster burst into the box onto the pass and went one-on-one with Kacper Kaczor in the Michałowianka goal. Chowaniec looked to take the ball around Kaczor, but had his heels clipped and a penalty was immediately awarded. Forabosco stepped up to his 3rd penalty in consecutive weeks and sent Kaczor the wrong way to give the Dragoons an early lead.
Following the goal, the stunned visitors began to get their foot on the ball to put the Expats on the back-foot. A couple of early attempts came at the Dragoons goal, without Obyrtacz being unduly worried.
Dragoons Convert A 2nd Pen
The Dragoons had been second best in the opening 15 minutes, however, a quick counter-attack lead to a 2nd goal. Good battling by Fuhaš saw the attacker keep possession in the middle of the park. Fuhaš spotted Chowaniec on the shoulder of the last man and put in a perfect through-pass for him to run onto. The Polish forward sped into the box, but a wild tackle from behind ended his progress. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, however, only produced a yellow card. On this occasion, Rob Smits stepped up with same result in sending Kaczor the wrong way. A rare feat to see the Dragoons score two penalties in one game!
OUCH
Five minutes later, the Dutchmeester’s game came to an early end. The midfielder battled for the ball in the air and an innocuous collision saw Smits go to ground in agony. The stricken Dutchman had to leave the field with a painful dislocated shoulder with Rohit Chandran eventually entering the game.
Michałowianka continued to dominate the ball as the half wore on. A quick turn down their left flank saw the visitors get into the box, however, Obyrtacz stood strong to block a cross-shot.
The Visitors Pull One Back
On 29 minutes, the visitors managed to halve the deficit to get back into the game. With the Dragoons camped deep in their own half, an excellent cross-field pass flew over Hajnrych’s head on the wing. A low cross into the box saw Mateusz Fundament draw out Dawson with a dummy allowing the ball to land at Hubert Wójcik’s feet. The Michałowianka man hit a tame first-time shot, which squirmed past Obyrtacz and into the net for 2-1.
Following the goal, the Dragoons found themselves penned into their own half and unable to escape. Despite this, the team stood up well defensively and restricted the leaders to shots from range.
The Dragoons began to get their foot on the ball towards the last five minutes of the half. A slower tempo saw the team build better and a long pass saw Chowaniec win a corner. Forabosco whipped the corner into the box and Fuhaš flicked the ball across goal. Unfortunately, the header struck Krzyżanowski as Dawson lurked and Michałowianka survived a good Dragoons chance.
Equaliser
Into the last minute of the half, poor game management from the Expats saw Michałowianka grab an equaliser. The Dragoons gifted possession back to the visitors, who sent a pass down their left wing. A cross came towards the far post, where Tadeusz Bednarczyk escaped the attentions of the Expats’ defence and sent a header towards the Dragoons goal that Obyrtacz seemed to misjudge. The Dragoons keeper could not get a strong enough hand to the ball and it dropped into the net for 2-2.
Almost straight after, the final whistle blew with the teams going into the break level. Despite the quick start, the Dragoons had seen their lead wiped out by the league leaders. Michałowianka had moved the ball around with purpose, with the Dragoons on the most part defending well. However, two slip ups had seen the visitors cruelly punish the Expats. The Dragoons had failed to press high after Smits’ departure and a lack of composure in possession had proved costly.
Second Half
Into the second half, the Dragoons struggled for possession gifting the ball back to Michałowianka time and time again. The away side showed quick football to get the ball forward, but could not find the target with early efforts at goal.
Michałowianka continued to go long in the early stages. On two occasions balls across the box reached a visiting player, but each time the Dragoons managed to survive.
Michałowianka Take The Lead
On 62 minutes, the visitors grabbed their third goal of the game to complete their comeback. A long ball from left to right saw Bednarczyk break the offside trap to get through on goal. With just Obyrtacz to beat, the Michałowianka attacker calmly stroked the ball past the keeper to make it 2-3.
As the game progressed neither side could find a way past the others defence. Attacks broke down for both sides as the game had a stretched feel about it. The Dragoons could not find a telling pass, however, and all too often moves broke down with a lack of a final product.
Michałowianka had a glorious chance to score with ten minutes left to play. The Dragoons lost the ball in the opponents’ half and it came flying over the defence to Wójcik. The first goalscorer for the visitors found himself with a free run on goal, but could not add a second thanks to a great save by Obyrtacz.
Down the the other end, a quick attack from the Dragoons saw a shooting chance fall to substitute Omar Atzori. The Italian struck firmly at goal, but leaned back a little too much and sent the ball over the bar.
The Visitors Seal The Game
In the last minute of the game, the Dragoons handed the visitors a fourth goal to kill the game off. A long ball forward saw Lemmen inadvertently head the ball over his own defence and straight to Wójcik. The forward found himself on goal with Obyrtacz once again, but on this occasion tucked the ball past the stopper and into the net for 2-4.
As the game rolled into injury time, a late free-kick saw Atzori test Kaczor for the first time in the half. The keeper palmed the Italian’s shot over to give the Dragoons a corner.
Just Wide!
From the following set-piece, Atzori’s kick found the head of Josh Dawson 6 yards from goal. The Englishman headed the ball down into the ground, but failed get the attempt on target as it drifted just wide of the post.
Not long after, the final whistle sounded to condemn the Dragoons to a second consecutive defeat. The Dragoons fall to 9th in the table, with Michałowianka remaining top, 3 points clear of Wanda.
The visitors showed calmness in possession and picked their moments well to put the Dragoons to the sword. With Smits’ dynamism missed after his unfortunate departure, the Dragoons struggled with pressing high. This allowed Michałowianka to begin to dictate the play and dominate the game. Unfortunately, the Expats failed to seriously trouble the visiting keeper and could not get bodies forward enough to keep the ball in the opposition half. The visitors thoroughly deserved their victory and kept going to the final whistle, proving why they are unbeaten and top of the table.
Next Up
The Dragoons travel to Baranówka to face third place Ekler next week. Ekler are on a 3 game unbeaten streak and have won 11, drawn 3 and lost 3 times so far this season. They boast the second meanest defence with 24 conceded and have found the net on 54 occasions.
Last time out against Ekler at home, the Dragoons went behind in disastrous fashion conceding a goal within the first 15 seconds. The Expats came back into the game but failed to score from the penalty spot to go into the break behind. A poor second half by the Dragoons saw a second goal conceded and succumbed to a 0-2 defeat.
A last word goes to our midfield metronome Rob Smits who we wish a speedy recovery to following his horrible shoulder injury.
