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6 December 2009 Match report for Wilmslow Town U11 Cougars 3 - 5 home defeat to Altrincham FC Juniors U11 Lions (06/12/2009)
The weather forecast wasn’t promising for the match but there were some patches of blue sky as the boys lined up for their return match with Altrincham Juniors Lions at home. Tom, Brendan, William, Nathan, Luis, Jamie, TJ, Kieran and Connor started the match but it was a shocker of a start as within seconds of the kick off the Lions’ centre forward tore through our defence and it was 1-0 to the Juniors. The boys kicked off again, but seconds later again the same happened again, the score was 2-0 to the Juniors – what a disastrous start to what had promised to be a fairly evenly matched game! We knew that Tyler, one of the Juniors key players and centre forward was a threat, however we had not bargained on this start to the match. Nevertheless the team shook themselves off, and started again, this time with a far better outcome. Some nice moves involving Tom, TJ, Jamie and Connor resulted in Connor having a great shot on goal which was only just on its way past the goal post until deflected into the back of the net by one of the Juniors, players. It was an own goal, but we’d take any goal to get back into the match!
This gave the boys a real boost and gave them fresh heart, despite the early goal deficit. The game began to move from end to end as the Cougars started to get into their stride more. There were more Lions’ attacks, spearheaded by Tyler, but were countered immediately by the Cougars, with Kieran, Jamie and Connor combining to keep the Lions’ goalie on his toes too. Some great defensive work from TJ, Tom, Brendan, Luis and William meant that the consecutive corners won by the Juniors came to nought and Kieran could continue making runs towards the Juniors’ goal, supported by Jamie and Connor, as well as running on to some lovely balls up the wing supplied by Tom and Luis. At this point the rain started to gain in intensity and began chucking it down in buckets as the teams played on. Nathan made a great save, then before we knew it the next goal kick was from the Juniors end. Brendan won the ball in his own half and with a spectacularly huge and high clearance up field, Kieran was onto it in a flash, slipping the ball through to Connor, who wasted no time in lifting it over the despairing hands of the Juniors’ goalie into the top corner of the goal. The Lions looked on in stunned disbelief – the Cougars had clawed back the score from 2-0 to 2-2 – the game was wide open once again!
Luis was making a nuisance of himself down the left side making some great clearances and some telling passes up field releasing the attacking Cougars. TJ had started marking Tyler closely, frustrating his attempts to score at this point , however he found himself flattened and had to go off injured for his trouble, enabling Will to come on in his place.
Tom pushed through a clearance to Jamie, who passed to Connor, but his shot from wide right was saved by the goalie. The Lions countered but as usual Nathan made a good save, his goal kick finding William, who threaded a pass through to Jamie. He and Kieran played an excellent one-two, but Jamie’s resulting shot was saved by the goalie. Pretty soon Nathan was making another save, this time a superb thunderbolt, which would almost certainly have gone in but for Nathan’s fast action. William latched onto a high flying cross field ball, brought it down, controlling it beautifully and made a telling pass up field to the attackers. These are just a few of the highlights of this period of great passing and movement by the team which gave everyone the hope that the Cougars would be able to make this a winning match, however all too soon it all began to go horribly wrong. Nathan made a great save, coming out as usual, but the Juniors managed to latch onto the ball and made it 3-2. From the kick off, Nathan immediately had to make another great save then promptly followed up the save, with the ball safely in his hands, by giving the team a rollicking for the third goal, He certainly gave the Cougars what for. This was because the Juniors’ had played on even though the ball had gone out by a yard or so, but this hadn’t been spotted by the linesman or referee. As a result of this, the team stopped defending and left Nathan completely exposed – and unable to stop the third goal. (You tell ‘em Nathan!) The boys really do have to play to the whistle and not just expect decisions to go our way all the time.
A long range shot from a hopeful Lion was caught by Nathan, expertly bouncing the ball back into is hands to emphasise the catch (at least that’s what we’re saying). Will had been doing a sterling job man marking Tyler since his arrival on the pitch and was in no frame of mind to be muscled off the ball. The team continued to press with Luis also making breaks in addition to the front line, getting past a number of the Juniors as he made his way up the wing. The rain, which had subsided earlier, now returned with a vengeance, making the already wet field even muddier and more slippery. Tyler finally got away and made it 4-2 to the Juniors, Nathan standing no chance as Tyler hit the ball into the back of the net. The game continued and as it entered the last few minutes of the half, the rain went from torrential to horizontal, such was the force of the wind and the volume of rain. Despite the visibility being dreadful, the teams played on until at last the whistle blew for half time and gave the boys some respite from the deluge.
With the rain having eased off during the break, the second half started with Max coming on for William and more pressure from the Lions. Nathan made a series of saves, but couldn’t stop an early goal in the first half. Unfortunately, one of his goal kicks came straight back at him – kicking the ball directly to Tyler is something Nathan didn’t do again during the game – as the ball hit the top corner and dropped into the net. It was 5-2 and the Cougars had some work to do! Max was in good form as he made a number of telling tackles and essential clearances and Jayden also made an impact as he came on for Will. His role was also man-marking Tyler, getting in his way and making sure he didn’t increase his goal tally any more. Yet another free kick given to the Cougars, (this time for Brendan being flattened) kept the Juniors defence busy but they countered and Nathan was forced to pull off another fearless save, coming out of the box to grab the ball. More changes in personnel ensued as Jamie and Connor made way for Joe and William, however Joe wasn’t on for more than a few minutes before he had to go off injured, hobbling as he went, Luis going on to replace him. Will, with another of his long throws put some spectators in mind of a certain Stoke player, maybe he had been taking lessons from the Rory Delap school of throw-ins? Either way they’re getting better and longer that’s for sure! He was putting the ball through the air at speed shortly after with a fabulous long range shot which narrowly missed the goal.
The game continued with the action transferring from one end to the other, Kieran making more breaks, often created through his relentless chasing down of the Lions defence, and some deft accurate passes. Nathan had a couple more saves to make, Max kept the right sided Lions at bay with some well timed tackles and blocks, Tom doing the same on the right. Then Brendan having dispossessed the Lions’ attack once again, broke from defence at top speed directly towards goal, scattering Juniors players as he went, but couldn’t get the final touch right to put it in the net. Connor and Jamie came back on for Luis and Jayden, as the game increased in tempo as the final whistle drew nearer. A crunching tackle on Jamie resulted in another free kick to the Cougars. Jamie chipped it towards the goal, Kieran picked it up, flicked it onto Connor wide on the left, who crossed the ball in and William, who with great composure, calmly half-volleyed it into the back of the net. The score was 5-3 and the Cougars were coming back into the game at the eleventh hour! Sadly there was not enough time for the Cougars to pull the match back any further, but it was a great match, albeit very physical (as befits a fight between Cougars and Lions and matches with the Juniors always are very physical!).
This was a great game, the Cougars showed their fighting spirit and never gave up. After such an early 2-0 deficit they fought hard to pull the score back to 2-2. It was a shame that they couldn’t capitalise on their success – but for the 2 very early goals it could have been a very different story! Taken in isolation, the Cougars drew the second half 1-1, which is really encouraging, in addition to the fight back in the first half of the game. The boys should take heart from this as it reflects the improvements they have been making as a team over the last few weeks.
Thanks to the referee Tom Roche who had an excellent game and who allowed play to flow by playing advantage when appropriate, even if he didn’t spot that ball going out! Thanks also to Sam for his linesman duties again, Andy for being behind goal to pick up any stray balls that made it over the fence, also Mark who (like last week) took on the second half of this duty. Finally thanks for all the help from friends and family setting up, clearing up and not forgetting Des for providing the boys with some delicious cakes again!
GBK Man of the Match: Will: This was definitely his best game of the season. Last week he showed how strong he was in the holding midfield role and this week, once called upon from the bench, showed how much he is relishing his new position. His all round play was excellent, strong tackling, calm control of the ball and good distribution, his throw-ins provided an important defensive and attacking option, excellent man marking of Tyler, which on the whole kept this ferocious Lion’s roar a lot quieter than could have been the case if his initial start had continued!
Crunchie Moments: William: For a great moment of skill bringing the ball down at speed, controlling it and making a perfectly placed pass under pressure with great composure (and his goal too would have deserved one). Jayden: For his glue-like man marking of Tyler, while Will earned a bit of respite, which put a real damper of the attacking play of the Juniors while he was on the pitch.
Rolo Moments: Brendan: For the huge high clearance up field and for his bouncing back despite being flattened a number of times, not least the spectacular full-on charge on him. Nathan: For giving the team a right telling off for not playing to the referee’s whistle and allowing the Juniors to sneak another goal in. Team
N Forrest, T Collicott, M Forde-Dunlop, J Graham, W Nicol, L Wright, B Behan, T Jefferis, W Kennedy, K Maguire, J Nugent, C Barton, J PotterMan of the Match : W Nicol Source: Helen Nugent << to news index
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