U11 Cougars mauled by Sports Pumas - back to back derby defeats, beaten but not willing to lie down

20 September 2009

Another beautiful September morning saw the Cougars with a new formation and plan to overturn the defeat from the previous week at the hands of the Pumas. The pitch glistened with the dew, but it was difficult amongst the variety of different line markings to work out which pitch we were actually playing on. 

The whistle blew and the Cougars charged at the Pumas with renewed vigour in their new  'Christmas Tree' formation. Within  2 minutes Tom, flying down the right hand side , relishing his new wing-back role, skipped past a couple of defending Pumas and delivered a wonder strike  from 25 yards into the top corner of the Sports' net.  Maybe this could be our day!

Unfortunately not, as the Pumas immediately put pressure on us from the restart and were relentless, scoring two fine goals by outfoxing our central defence.  The Cougars defence appeared afraid of the Pumas, maybe due to the beating they had received one week earlier or maybe just overawed by their strength, pace and organisation. We backed out of challenges and generally looked timid

After a couple of early substitutions the defence settled a bit more, and began to enable our pacey attack to get some joy.  Bren and Will N began to work out their defensive role but could not live with the Pumas' pace at times.    Jayden came on for his debut, into the Pumas lair, and performed confidently, bringing pace to the central defence alongside Bren as Tom and Max began to provide some width in the wing-back roles.  TJ buzzed around in the holding midfield role trying to break up the Pumas rhythm and Jamie, Kieran and Connor started to get some joy as the Cougars mounted a few attacks on the Pumas goal. 

However the Pumas were able to cut through our defence twice more to make it 4-1 at half time. Nathan pulled off a number of good saves to keep the total from running away.  

The second half saw the introduction of Joe who chased the ball down as much as he could. Jayden continued to perform well, beginning to fit into his new central defensive role like a glove. Luis and Will K were reintroduced in the wing-back roles, after one of Tom's many marauding runs forward from right back (more than a little reminicent of Glen Johnson but better defensively) was thwarted by heavy challenge, winding him badly. This time, Luis and Will K began to play with vigour and determination and showed less hesitancy.

When Bren, Connor, Kieran and Tom were all reintroduced towards the end of the game, once again the Cougars were able to exert more pressure on the Pumas with Tom, Connor and Kieran all going close on more than one occasion.  That said our defensive frailties let the Pumas in for 3 more goals and having given away a free kick 25 yards away from goal, saw the Pumas captain Ryan hit a thunderbolt that Nathan had no chance of saving.  Despite losing 8 goals, Nathan had another strong game in nets, because in most cases he could do nothing about the goals that were scored. They were quality goals scored by a quality team. Wilmslow Sports Pumas will be a team to be reckoned with in this division. Thankfully we don't have to meet them again.

However, the after match awards were still full of fun as the lads continue to show their  Cougar spirit, never once letting their heads go down.

Man of the Match:  Jayden for a very impressive debut in the most difficult role on the field against the Pumas.

Crunchie Moment:  Will N for an exquisite backwards throw-in that had everyone laughing

Last Rolo Moment: Tom for tremendously struck goal that flew into the Pumas' net from 25 yards

Source: John Nugent

<< to news index

• Fixtures
• Results
• News and Reports
• League Data
• Stats