U11 Cougars fail to squeeze Oranges hard enough - but Ashton only get 5 this time

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The starting line up of Connor, Jamie, Kieran, TJ, Brendan, Atakan, Max, Tom and William in goal got ready, as the referee (on his second match of the day on the pitch) blew the whistle.  Max was one of the first to get the ball in the defence, and subsequently made some good blocks and clearances enabling  William to settle into the unfamiliar role of the Cougar’s goalie in Nathan’s absence.  A cracking goal kick from William halfway into Ashton’s territory found TJ directly, showing that William was more than ready to take up the mantle! He was called upon for his first save of the match soon after, which he caught with ease, and sent the ball swiftly back out to the Cougars once again. Despite a good break by Jamie, supported by Connor , the ball was soon back in the Cougars’ end of the pitch and a fierce shot from Ashton was stopped by William, a superb save as he smothered the ball. This was followed by a diving deflection round the post from William as Ashton continued to press the Cougars. Another shot was fired in by Ashton, which was cleared by Atakan and Max, causing one of those ‘ooh’ moments from the watching friends and families. This clearance from Max came at a cost, as he then limped off the pitch with a recurrent heel problem, allowing Luis to come on earlier than planned.

Ashton pushed forward but TJ was hassling them one on one, well one on one for two players,  as they passed the ball to and fro, going nowhere fast as TJ harried them. In the end Kieran slipped in when they were distracted by TJ and got the ball away. Despite an earlier good clearance from Luis, another shot on goal from Ashton was followed by a second, which Atakan managed to block close to the goal line, and despite being on the ground, he kept his legs going (a là TJ) and he managed to clear the ball away out of the danger zone. Atakan was up and off down the field immediately after as the Cougars went on the attack, and had a powerful shot on goal - which was saved by the Ashton goalie – but at full stretch. The resulting goal kick meant that Brendan was called upon for one of his trademark moments, heading the ball away but the force of it pushed him back onto the floor, rolling him over, yet in a trice he was back up and off, business as usual! Soon, however, Ashton capitalised on the Cougars’ lack of concentration and a whistling ball flew into the bottom right hand corner, giving William no chance to save, making it 1-0 to Ashton.  The following centre saw Connor having what could only be described as a senior moment, which meant Luis was called upon to block, Tom, Brendan and Atakan to defend but the Ashton team took their chance in a flash and it was 2-0 to Ashton.  Will we ever learn to stop gifting the opposition goals through poor concentration, lack of thought and a big dose of hesitation? Both goals could have been avoided by care, relaxation and attention, confident we know what we are doing! As we so clearly demonstrated on numerous occasions later...

Both Kieran and TJ had a great breaks towards the Ashton goal, but both held onto the ball too long not making  the pass in time, so the ball ran harmlessly off the end of the pitch, fortunately in Kieran’s case via an Ashton defender. Atakan was there again, on the end of the resulting corner from Jamie, which deflected to Connor, who snatched his shot and sliced the ball wide of the goal – clearly it wasn’t Connor’s day today! The Cougars started to play more flowing football at this point with some great passing moves for example Brendan to Luis, then to Jamie then Kieran, before once again the move broke down as Ashton took possession. This more fluid football was long overdue, as a lot of the Cougars had seemed half asleep earlier in the match – but they were definitely awake now! TJ was buzzing around midfield causing havoc, Tom was putting in some great blocks while Atakan was there putting in the odd crucial crunching tackle, supporting the sterling work from Brendan and Luis in defence. A change of personnel meant that Joe, Will, Jake and Jayden took over from Jamie, TJ, Connor and Atakan.  Joe, in what was his best game yet, was in the thick of it from the off, while Jake was able to make some telling balls forward up the wing really count. A great blocking save from William followed by a great ball outfield meant that Kieran, supported by Joe and Jake was able to counterattack, but once again we couldn’t convert that opportunity into a goal as the Ashton defence dispossessed Kieran and immediately counterattacked. William, coming well away from his goal line, made a courageous but confident deflection resulting in the first of a series of corners to Ashton that kept William on his toes: the first was deflected by Tom, the second William got his fingers to, to redirect to the opposite side of the goal, resulting in a third that was dealt with by Brendan after a bit of a goal mouth scuffle, ending with Ashton hitting the post and the ball going out. Kieran on another run up the wing was unable to keep the ball from going off near the end and the resulting throw in from Luis meant Kieran had the chance of a shot on goal. It was a long looping shot, which unfortunately looped over the top of goal, but a shot on goal it was nonetheless. 

Ashton increased the score to 3-0 as they broke away from the Cougars defence, and William then pulled off a series of quality saves, frustrating Ashton’s attempts to score again. Will, solid in midfield alongside Jayden, put in a powerful throw in near Ashton’s goal to Joe, who tried his best but could not get it into a scoring position. The second long throw in from Will (Rory Delap eat your heart out!), was deflected and Jayden, with a lovely back flick put it on to Joe, who again was thwarted by the Ashton defence. That first goal was just too elusive for the Cougars! Kieran hit the byline and got the cross in, but it was caught by the keeper. A couple of great inswinging corners from Kieran followed, but Ashton quickly countered, and Tom had to make a mad dash back most of the length of the pitch to save the day once again, as their lone striker sprinted onto a ball over the top leaving the rest of  the Cougars’ defensive line floundering. It didn’t seem possible that Tom would catch him with the head start the Ashton player had, but catch him he did, ushering the Ashton striker wide and off his preferred path for a shot on goal. The first half ended with the score at 3-0 to Ashton.

The second half saw Kieran, Tom, Joe, Brendan, Luis, Jayden, Will, Jake and William lining up once again, the start of which demonstrated that the boys were back in full concentration mode, with Jayden on a mission to man-mark Alfie, the Ashton player causing most trouble for the Cougars. Jayden stuck to him like glue, (me and my shadow was an understatement, especially having reviewed the photos of the match!) and it made a real difference to the Ashton attack. The match was much more even in this half with Kieran having a shot early on which went wide, but William was still called upon to make the odd save while Jake also made a last ditch clearance off the goal line.

Jake and Joe were replaced by TJ and Jamie to give the Ashton defence something different to think about. Brendan’s tackling once again proved behemoth-like but also showed his improving distribution from defence as he  picked out Jamie with a 30 yard cross-field pass. Another Ashton shot on goal flew high and wide as William followed it all the way as it soared over the top of the goal.  The next shot William palmed away and was headed on by Brendan to ensure it really was out of harm’s way. But the shot that came William’s way next gave him no chance - an Ashton rocket of a shot was fired in just under the cross bar -  it was a superb goal, 4-0 to Ashton. TJ, Jamie and Kieran were combining well with some great passing in attack, whereas Luis was outstanding in both attack and defence, getting better and better as the game progressed, particularly in the second half.  He played with all the flair and promise the manager had seen when he was spotted last year: calm assurance in the tackle, great first touch, crisp accurate clearances and passes and swift running with the ball. Brendan was involved in yet another tussle with the Ashton attack, but this time had to come off as his hand was trodden on in the scuffle – the icepack was definitely needed – his hand, with stud marks intact, just kept on swelling up so Atakan came back on for him in a straight swop.

Some nice flowing play again from the Cougars was in evidence, for example, with Tom, Will, TJ, Luis, Kieran and Jamie all working together in one move. The Cougars ensconced themselves in the Ashton half as the sides battled for supremacy, but a ball over the top from the Ashton defence left Tom  to head the ball clear to  Luis who  volleyed it superbly back  up to the Cougars' attack – a great combination! Connor came on for Will who sweating buckets after an excellent shift to take a well earned rest.  William was soon called on to pull off a great block - with his legs this time – nothing like variety is there?! Kieran had yet another two attempts to pierce the Ashton defences as he dribbled up the left wing and on the second, he finally managed to get a great cross in, which predictably, Jamie was well positioned  to receive. Despite a running leap to try to connect with it, the ball was just too high, and he narrowly escaped heading  the post instead. William caught a couple more shots from Ashton, as their attack tried to get through the Cougars’ defence. Atakan’s defensive clearance was immediately turned into a  counter- attack as Jamie gathered the ball and quickly converted it into a pinpoint cross for TJ on the penalty spot, which unfortunately fell to his left foot and his shot went straight into the Ashton goalie’s arms.

Ashton pressed again, but great defending by Tom and Connor got the ball away, the action moved up the field, as Atakan was caught and went down injured. Jayden, showing concern for a team mate stopped to check Atakan was alright, only to have his Dad remind him (quite rightly!) “No tending to the sick Jayden – this is football – get back in defence!”. Jayden had stuck to Alfie as directed, but as the last Ashton corner came floating in, he finally got away from Jayden and connected with the ball with a towering  header to score the final goal of the game, 5-0 to Ashton. 

Undaunted, the Cougars pulled together, gritted their teeth and pushed on with some more great passing moves, Connor combining well with Kieran and Luis, who then curled his shot beautifully to the far post but unfortunately went inches wide. Luis was also instrumental in the next shot on goal from the Cougars with a superb volley on to TJ who passed to Kieran who had a shot, but it sadly also went wide. Jamie was next to help the Cougars to have a shot at the goal, with another precision cross into TJ, once again in the right place in the box, who, much to his own horror, skewed his shot wide. His body language was reminiscent of the Wacky Races cartoons, when Dick Dastardly was shouting “Drat and double drat!” with frustration!

Overall this was a mixed match, some of the team seemed slow to start and there were too many lapses in concentration, that allowed Ashton to get through the Cougars’ defence far too easily. In addition, we often hesitated in front of goal and didn’t capitalise on our opportunities as well as hesitating when passing and clearing. The second half was much better, as the team found their rhythm much more and as the team as a whole became more attack minded and caused Ashton a lot of problems. Some of our players (you know who you are) still have the habit of holding onto the ball too long, trying to take on the opposition single-handedly. As Jose Mourinho, said in tonight’s final of Football’s Next Star “Any good footballer realises football is a team pursuit not an individual sport!” Therefore, bringing team mates into play who are in a better position, under less pressure and particularly in space, is much more important than dribbling round three players just to be stopped by the fourth when a pass could have been made that would put that team mate through on goal. Dribbling is a very important skill but passing enables the ball to move more quickly and cut defending players out of the game. This habit is made worse when the dribbling takes the ball most of the time into the centre of the pitch, where there is most congestion, whereas passing it out to players on the wing stretches play and creates more space to attack and score.

That said, several of our less established players had their best game of the season today - Joe, Jayden and Luis – and Luis was rightly voted Man of the Match for his performance by the team, with William as runner up.

Thanks to all those of you who made the game today for your unwavering support and especially to Sam for running the line so willingly. We cannot do it without you all!

GBK Man of the Match: Luis for an all round superb performance which got better and better throughout the match, both in attack and defence with superb volleys, defending, shots on goal and skilful midfield play – the deserved winner this week

Crunchie Moment: Atakan for the off the line block followed by his floor performance - the legs still going while lying on the pitch – still managing to clear the ball when prone

Rolo Moment: Jayden for his tending of the sick (Atakan on the floor), and also that cracking back flick getting the ball away in the first half

Unsung Hero Award: For the second time this goes to William. He has come very close a few times to Man of the Match (today being one of them) but has not yet received the award. After his superb performance in goal today (which surpassed all our expectations - we should have known better!) in addition to his continuing improvement in his outfield role, William is the obvious choice for the award once again. However I am sure William will welcome his return next week to the left hand side of the outfield and Nathan back between the sticks.