Everyone Welcome

To play their first friendly this season, the Railwaymen had to get on a bus and go 80 km off their base in Cyprus. The meeting point with their Czech rivals FC Victoria was the city of Ahna right on the border with the Turkish part of the island.
 
Slaven Bilic's men came to the stadium an hour before the game, and shortly before the starting whistle Lokomotiv youth team turned up on the stands to support their clubmates. By the way, six young players were shortlisted for this game.
 
The Czechs created the first chance in the match. In the 4th minute Rajtoral passed into space where Darida picked the ball and shot but Guilherme parried it.
 
One of the most active in Lokomotiv was Vyacheslav Podberyozkin. The young midfielder found himself in a good position to shoot several times but Victoria's defenders managed to stop him.
 
In the 17th minute the Czechs scored an opener. Teczl ran one-on-one with Guilherme and last defender Jan Durica knocked him down. The referee gave a penalty which was realized by Victoria captain Horvath.
 
Soon the Railwaymen got a chance to make the score level. In the 24th minute Victor Obinna made a wonderful shot that only shook the bar. A couple if minutes on, Felipe Caicedo seny Dame N'Doye one-on-one with the keeper but the Senegalese couldn't fool the keeper. Renat Yanbaev picked up the ball and crossed to the centre if the box but N'Doye's header was stopped by Kozacik.
 
In the 37th minute Caicedo received a classy pass from Obinna and managed to break one-on-one with the keeper but couldn't capitalize on his chance.
 
Nevertheless the Railwaymen managed to score before the half-time. In the 43rd minute Dmitry Tarasov won the ball at the corner of the opponents' box and moved inside where got knocked down by a defender. The referee signalled a penalty and Caicedo scored a goal sending the ball in the top corner.
 
Alas, Victoria managed to take the lead anyway. Guilherme seemed to have managed to tip away a dangerous and powerful shot but Darida got first to the ball and netted a goal.
 
In the second half, Slaven Bilic made five substitutions, them being Dario Kresic, Vitaly Denisov, Magomed Ozdoev, Dmitry Sychev and Roman Pavlyuchenko. Wing back Renat Yanbaev was moved to the right flank, and Vitaly Denisov took his position on the left.
 
SuperPav needed just two minutes to create the first opportunity. In the 47th minute the striker rounded a defender on the edge of the box and shot but just over the bar.

But then the Railwaymen missed three goals in just 18 minutes. The difference in the teams' form had its consequences: the Czehs are almost in their best shape, as they are playing their first Europa League game in two weeks.

Although this was no one-sided game anyway, and Loko managed to score twice soon. In the 72nd minute Pavlyuchenko rammed into the box and picked his spot in the corner, and ten minutes later Durica netted a goal from a set piece, setting a final score 3:5.

In the last minutes of the game the Railwaymen could have made a spectacular comeback or even beat Victoria. Sychev had two good chances, and Sandro Tsveiba had one, but none of them managed to capitalize on them.

«Lokomotiv» - «Victoria» 3:5 (1:2)

Goals: Horvath, 17 – pen., (0:1). Caicedo, 44 – pen., (1:1). Darida, 45 (1:2). Tecl, 50 (1:3). Tecl, 55 (1:4). Bakos, 68 (1:5). Pavlyuchenko, 72 (2:5). Durica, 82 (3:5).