Things weren’t looking good for the Byki old-timers last Saturday at Montrose & Cumberland. Lowly Lake Shore A had jumped out to a 2:0 lead, thanks to a lack of urgency from the Byki. When the situation had reached its lowest point, the Byki switched gears and scored twice in a five-minute span to bring home a 2:2 draw. It wasn’t the result that the players had hoped for, but the Byki have picked up a modest four points in their last three matches as they attempt to turn around their poor start to the 2008 season.

Lake Shore was at the foot of the Red Section table going into the match, having lost every game so far this season. The Byki might have thought that they had some easy pickings, but nothing comes easily when a team doesn’t work hard to execute their game plan. The Byki offense was a mess in the first half, as they forced passes into the clogged middle portions of the field. This made life easy for Lake Shore, who were content to just boot the ball into safety.

The lax attitude from the Byki came back to haunt them, as Lake Shore took a shock lead after 17 minutes. The Byki allowed Lake Shore free reign on the right side of the field and an unmarked player fired past emergency goalkeeper Delfino Zacarias. It was the last thing the Byki needed. With a one-goal lead, Lake Shore were certain to bunker in defensively to stymie the Byki.

The Byki played into that strategy perfectly, as their stagnant offense was largely out of sync in the first half. Their single scoring chance came in the 21st minute. Jakub Banbor floated a free kick from 30 yards into the mixer. Striker Maciej Kekus was left unmarked and had to be disappointed when his open header went wide of the target.

Things went from bad to worse for the Byki six minutes into the second half. The Byki failed to pressure a Lake Shore throw-in deep on the right side and the player receiving the ball booted a high lob into the penalty area. Steven Pedlow hustled to reach the ball first, but inadvertently headed the ball past Zacarias to gift-wrap a 2:0 lead to Lake Shore.

The Byki changed tactics immediately and moved sweeper Chris Cardenas up front to partner with Kekus, and left a three-man back line to keep Lake Shore in check. The move paid dividends quickly. With more players coming towards their goal, the Lake Shore defense was left scrambling. In the 52nd minute, Banbor split the defense with a terrific pass for Cardenas, who sprinted into space on a breakaway. The referee controversially whistled Cardenas for offside to kill the play.

The Byki were on a roll and not about to slow down. Three minutes later, Paul Gibbs played a long pass out of the back for Jan Winter. The winger quickly hit a diagonal pass over the top for Kekus. The unbalanced Lake Shore defense moved to close down Kekus, who laid off a simple pass for Cardenas on the right side of the box. With the keeper at his mercy, Cardenas slotted home for his first Byki goal.

Momentum had shifted in favor of the Byki and the Byki took full advantage. At the hour mark, Winter sent in a dangerous cross from a corner kick. Pedlow had moved up to get into the play and headed the ball towards goal. A Lake Shore defender in the box handled the ball, prompting the referee to award a penalty. Nick Elmkinssi blasted the spot kick past the diving keeper to make it 2:2.

The Byki kept up the pressure, but could not create any more goals. Lake Shore rebounded to get back into the contest, but Zacarias made several good saves down the stretch. His best effort came in the 67th minute when Lake Shore came on the counter down the left flank. They passed the ball inside the goal area and Zacarias dealt with a wacky bounce by making a tremendous reflex save.

The last gasp for the Byki came in the 71st minute when the Byki put pressure on the Lake Shore defenders as they tried to clear the ball. Ernesto Garcia won possession of the ball and slid a pass to Kekus, who worked a slick give-and-go with Cardenas. Kekus took the return pass and shot quickly, his flick missing the post by inches.

George Gorecki has been preaching teamwork to the players during training. “The commitment level of players at practice is very encouraging,” he noted. “We’re slowly getting better and this maturation process has to happen at training.”

BYKI LINEUP
Cardenas 1 (Kekus); 55th; 2:1. Elmkinssi 1 (pk); 60th; 2:2.

BYKI SCORING SUMMARY
(4-5-1): Zacarias – Cardenas, Pedlow, Tower, Treter – Banbor, Frischmann, Jedrzejowski (c), Winter, Dec – Kekus. Bench: Elmkinssi, Garcia, Gibbs, Gorecki.