Fletcher Moss overpower U11 Cougars - despite being one man down

The starting team was Nathan, Brendan, Tom, Kieran, Jake, Will, William, TJ and Jamie (taking over as captain from Kieran), facing a depleted Fletcher Moss. The Cougars had an early attacking move with TJ and Jake linking up well, ending with Jake slicing his shot wide. At this point Nathan was very vocal in his encouragement to the Cougars to put more of this type of move together; it was a promising start to the game. However, Fletcher Moss took advantage of this attack and pushed back up field to Nathan, who picked up the ball easily. Fletcher Moss pressed again and all too quickly made it 1-0, so early on in the game that it was not a good omen of things to come.

 The team was starting to get back more to support Tom and Brendan, with Kieran and Jake helping out Tom - who as usual - was using his speed to push attackers off their trajectory when heading for the Cougars’ goal. Nathan made another save as Fletcher Moss camped out in the Cougars’ end of the pitch, having a number of attempts on goal. Inevitably, it was a fateful corner that undid the Cougars, despite Brendan’s defensive header and Nathan pushing it out, like a homing pigeon always makes it home, the ball flew in and it was 2-0 to Fletcher Moss. One of the Fletcher Moss players had a huge high throw when doing throw-ins, but William was equal to the task and cleared the first, as it floated in towards Nathan. The battle recommenced in midfield, when unfortunately Jamie went down in a heap due to an elbow in the back, however was back on his feet once again after the initial shock, shaking it off to lead the fight back. Restarting after the break in play, the Cougars went on the attack with the combination of Jamie and Kieran creating the opportunity for Kieran to have a shot on goal, which went into the side netting.  Jake, Will and William went off to make way for Connor Jayden and Max. Jayden was quickly involved in a great move with Kieran, followed quickly by TJ battling his way as he moved the ball around the pitch, past a number of Fletcher Moss players, in front of the goal, eventually having a shot on goal which was deflected wide. Brendan showed his prowess in the air with a cracking defensive header; unfortunately it was a Cougars’ corner, so the opportunity wasn’t converted into a goal, (as was the case for corners throughout the game).

A chance came for the Cougars to even things up a little, as a shout for handball was given following a cross into the box. Jamie coolly stepped up to take the ensuing penalty, which he blasted into the top corner despite the goalie getting a forlorn hand to it and the Cougars had pulled one back. The Cougars gave away a few cheap free kicks during the next period of play, one handball in particular, due to hands being out and not close to sides when challenging for the ball. Max was bumped off the ball by a Fletcher Moss player, but like (the old kid’s toy) a Weeble, bounced back up to win the ball back. This was characteristic of Max’s best performance for many a week.  Following yet another free kick against the Cougars, Nathan made a superb double save, keeping the Cougars in the game. Once the action started again, Connor was in action with a very timely tackle, getting the ball away to enable  Brendan, Jamie and Kieran put together a great passing move up the wing which as soon as it broke down, there was Connor, back on the ball again after winning it back from Fletcher Moss once more. The Cougar pressure was too short lived and soon Nathan had to make another superb stop, running out at the attacker preventing this Fletcher Moss attack, however like a bungee they bounced back for another go, crossing into the box which created a real poachers goal, powerfully side footed into the far corner, giving Nathan no chance, and making the score 3-1.

Fletcher Moss camped out in the Cougars’ end of the pitch once again, as the team was kept busy defending the goal against further attacks. Joe managed to stop and clear a shot on target, but Fletcher Moss kept the pressure on winning a number of corners.  When we did manage to clear our lines and counter, it was unfortunate that a few players (you know who you are!) continue to be caught offside during the game preventing a number of attacks from coming to fruition. This is something that the team should be much better at, having played with the offside rule since the beginning of the season. Some of our attacking players continually forget to watch where they are in relation to the opposing defensive line, giving away opportunities needlessly.

Nathan, Max and Jamie worked together in a passing move resulting in a throw in at the Fletcher Moss end of the pitch, but because we took so long waiting to for someone to take the throw Fletcher Moss regrouped as the ball went out harmlessly for a goal kick. Brendan, with his typical attitude of have a go anyway, headed the high ball from the goal kick away, but did so with the back of his head. Ouch Brendan!  Wrong part of the head!!! The first half ended with the score at 3-1 to Fletcher Moss.

The second half saw Nathan, Tom, Max, Jake, Jamie, Kieran, Joe, Jayden and Brendan returning to the field, as Fletcher Moss carried on where they had left off with some great attacking football. Nathan was forced to make a couple of saves before the inevitable and Fletcher Moss scored from a corner. Nathan was clearly unhappy, giving his team mates what could only be described as a right rollicking for leaving Tom exposed on his own at the back, and he was absolutely right to do so.

Our central defenders must learn they should not be any more than 10 metres apart when defending, and maintain a good line to enable them to play off side. The rest of the defenders and midfield MUST track back to assist. Too often we are caught with too many players forward - or out of position - watching the heroics of one individual forced to carry the can for the whole team.  This kind of heroics should be a last resort, not our usual way of defending!

Max, Jamie and Kieran made an attacking break, but the ball wasn’t released early enough to players in space, and another missed opportunity resulted. As we have said before, players must realise that dribbling their way up the field is all very well, but there is no point if the ball is lost at the last minute when there are other players available in better positions. 

Another shot blocked brilliantly by Nathan, and a clearance off the line by Brendan, tracking back after an attacking run to the other end of the pitch, meant the score stayed the same. Joe, Brendan and Kieran went off to allow Will, William and TJ to come back on. The Cougars won a rare corner, which Jamie took and William diving backwards to get his head on it but unfortunately it ended up in the hands of the Fletcher Moss goalie – it was almost there – but not quite!

The score rose to 5-1 through another bit of defensive hesitancy but again Nathan had no chance on this one. It looked like it would rise again when an extraordinary ping pong battle broke out in the box resulting in an inadvertent back pass to Nathan which in the melee he caught instinctively.  The resulting indirect free kick, just two yards from the Cougar goal, caused both teams to congregate in the box (all back this time!). Nathan organised the team to try to block the shot which he managed to parry brilliantly from point blank range, and despite several different attempts by Fletcher Moss to score, the ball ricocheted all over the place before finally it flew narrowly over the crossbar. It was one of those moments where the spectating friends and family hold their breath as the ball flies around at speed, somehow destined to go into the back of the net, but brilliant last resort defending stopped it doing so.  However, the ball spent too much time in the Cougar box because of our hesitancy to clear the ball with power to the wings. This hesitancy and lack of confidence clearing is a habit the Cougars find difficult to shake

Defending was order of the day for a while as Fletcher Moss, continued to press. There was a superb save by Nathan of a long range, high speed shot from Fletcher Moss, there was some great defending of corners, notably a headed clearance from Will, a fantastic pinching of the ball off a player’s foot by Tom as they got ready to shoot on the goal and another couple of great saves from Nathan. The best save of the day was one where he threw himself fearlessly at the feet of an advancing attacker smothering the ball skilfully with his body.

Connor and Brendan came on for Kieran and Jake at this point in the game and were forced into defending very quickly, but the Fletcher Moss attack resulted in yet another goal (6-1). Yet another good move up the left saw Max passing to William and onto TJ who had a shot on the Fletcher Moss goal which went wide, as the Cougars countered after a very intense period of Fletcher Moss pressure.  Another counter attack was started off by Will, putting in a searching cross field pass to Brendan, who got away up the field, chased by two Fletcher Moss defenders. Brendan pushed on and to his credit, crossed the ball to Jamie, supporting him in the box, who then side-footed the ball home neatly into the bottom corner from seven yards (6-2). The words ‘to his credit’ are not used lightly. It would have been all too easy for Brendan, as a defender most of the time, to have had a glory shot at goal which would have not gone in, due to the presence of the Fletcher Moss defenders. Instead, Brendan chose to pass to a team mate in a better position who could score. However, many of our attacking players need to take note of this, as we still squandered too many opportunities during this game - and in previous games - by refusing to pass the ball to other teammates who are in a better position, choosing to keep the ball too long and either losing the ball or missing the target by being over ambitious. 

We don’t want to discourage shooting or dribbling, but we do want to encourage players to be aware of team mates in better positions. Players should never forget the assist is more important than the goal itself, as it is only through a good assist that goals in open play are scored.

Another free kick was given against the Cougars as the play continued (thanks Dad, said Will!), and despite some good defending from Max, Will and Brendan, the score rose to 7-2, once again from a Fletcher Moss corner. For this corner in particular, the Cougars seemed to be watching the action rather than taking part in it. No-one attacked the ball to head it away, leaving Nathan exposed, and therefore all were all deserving of another ear bashing from him as a result. The score stayed at 7-2 until the end of the match, despite the best efforts of Fletcher Moss to increase it, giving the team a goal difference of -5 for the match.  Hmm....same as last week and against 8 players....

While some of our attacking play today looked good as we moved the ball well, we returned to some of the hesitant defending and poor positioning that characterised earlier games this season. We once again need to concentrate on defensive shape in our training until we kick the habit and start kicking with confidence and tackling with tenacity.

Once again we’d like to thank Mark for yet another superb refereeing stint, Raymond for volunteering to be on ball retrieval duty and all those who helped with the set up and clearing up post match. We cannot do this without you!

GBK Man of the Match: Brendan for his behemoth like defending, great attacking and especially for the second goal assist

Crunchie Moments: Jamie for a coolly taken penalty and William for the backward diving headed shot on goal

Rolo Moment: Brendan for his back of head header – but no more please of this type  – we like you without your neck compacted!