U11 Cougars Sale close to the win - Lions tamed in close fought match

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Nathan, Kieran, TJ, Luis, Jamie, Joe, Brendan, William and Tom lined up for kick off on the nicely defrosted pitch, and immediately demonstrated how much they had learnt recently about passing and moving the game. Luis, Kieran and Joe put together some good passing while Kieran and Joe were combining well on the wing. Nathan (as ever) was in good voice as the team got down to their task in earnest, encouraging the team as they put together more flowing moves and attacks which continued throughout the game. An early attack by Sale resulted in a corner, which came to naught, as Kieran broke up the wing, winning a corner at the other end of the pitch for the Cougars. Jamie curled in the corner, and TJ, in his usual Sale United match top form, got his head to it but couldn’t get it into the back of the net. It was a great start for the Cougars!

The following Cougars’ throw-in, taken by Tom, led to a chance for Kieran, as Jamie slid the ball through the Sale defence to him in the box, but again the ball stubbornly would not go in. Luis, TJ and Kieran worked some more good passing moves, as the Cougars put the pressure on Sale, with much of the play in their half at this stage of the game.   However, Sale finally managed to clear their lines and started a counter attack with Brendan being called upon to block the ball, and Nathan to make a great save, flicking the ball over the bar with his left hand from the resulting powerful Sale shot, cool as ever while under pressure. Sale started to make inroads into the Cougars’ half of the pitch – it was their turn to apply the pressure – but the Cougars took their own chance to counter. TJ dispossessed one of the Sale players through sheer cheek and skill, looked up and made the pass to Jamie, meaning that the team were able to attack once again. Jamie and Kieran did their best to get a shot on goal, but in the end their persistence was rewarded instead with a corner. The combination of Jamie’s corner and Kieran’s header should have resulted in a goal, but following Kieran’s excellent header, the ball was batted back and forth in the box, until it went out of play. A small drama then ensued as the inflatable Sale goal collapsed and needed pumping up once more to keep it upright – something that was required a number of times during the game – the poor Sale assistant manager spent a lot of time behind the goal with the pump in his hand!

While the Sale team rescued their goal, there was a change of personnel as Joe and William made way for Max and Will. The team pressurised Sale again and won another corner, which again was cleared without the Cougars being able to convert their pressure into goals. The Sale counter was stopped in its tracks as Kieran stole the ball and put in a lovely cross-field pass to Jamie, who spotting the Sale goalie was off his line, tried a long range Xabi Alonsoesque half-volleyed lob from near the half way line, over the keeper, which only missed the post by a smidgen. This was typical of the match, in that the team had some great opportunities but, luck just wasn’t with them. Jamie launched his first of two 30 yard free kicks which was on target but the Sale goalie parried the ball as far as Luis, who unfortunately sliced his shot wide.

 A couple of Sale players made a break for the Cougars’ goal, hotly pursued by Max and Brendan. It seemed like it would end in a goal for Sale, but Max’s speed and dogged determination paid off, placing the player under pressure, forcing him to shoot from long range, putting him off his shot completely, which went wide. The Cougars went on the attack once more, from Nathan’s goal kick as Max passed to Jamie then on to Luis, who held up the ball until the rest of the team could get there in support. Assisted by Will and Luis, Kieran was then able to have a shot on goal which was saved by the Sale keeper, yet another goal denied!

The team by now were playing lovely flowing football, passing and moving, using the long shot where needed and putting Sale under tremendous pressure. Sale did try to counter, but great defending by Tom, Brendan, Max and Luis, supported by the rest of the team getting back meant that the Sale attacks were fizzling out without much impact. Jamie and Kieran continually attacked then tracked back as they doggedly tried to break down the Sale defences. The Cougar corner count was racking up as they kept pressing, but still no goals, despite Brendan coming in unmarked twice to get his head on it, being thwarted by the goalie with a bit too much height on his powerful headers. Sale gathered themselves up for another big push, and this time managed to breach the Cougars’ defences, forcing Nathan to leap to push the ball out of the danger zone, followed by some deserved team ear bashing. Sale were back with another attempt soon after, the corner was eventually cleared up field by Max after some more box ping-pong. However, Sale were soon back, forcing another save from Nathan, only thankfully this time the shot had far less power and impact. Some great defending from Tom was characteristic of this part of the match as Sale piled on the pressure, but Tom frequently thwarted their attempts, the Cougar defenders were equal to the Sale challenge and the first half ended with the score still at 0-0. The first time the team has kept a clean sheet in the first half since the first game of the season..... something that the boys were all too aware of.

The second half began with Will, Tom, Jamie, Luis, Max, Kieran, Jayden, Brendan and Nathan kicking off. The first real action saw Nathan diving and smothering a low ground shot as the Sale team started this half more effectively than the Cougars, who seemed a little slow to get back into the game. This resulted in some lapses of concentration which led to the Cougars goal being left exposed due to a lack of bodies in the box, and an unfortunate ricochet meant that the Cougars went 1-0 down early on in the half.

Needless to say the Cougars regrouped after this lapse and a throw in from Max headed by Jamie then headed again by Kieran meant that he was able to have a shot on goal, which went wide. If Sale thought the Cougars were about to crumble or that they would get five more like last time, they were sadly mistaken!

Brendan, Max, Jamie then Max again combined well on a run up field, only to be caught offside by Sale. Brendan was back involved in another move shortly afterwards, as he worked with Will and William, having a shot on goal that that the Sale keeper dropped but quickly managed to grab as it bounced, preventing the marauding Cougars from getting a sniff of a goal. The goalie’s clearance was immediately returned to the Sale half, as the Cougars continued to win the majority of the ball in midfield. A Sale defender upended Joe, winning a free kick, which Jamie curled into the far post from 30 yards, but was defended well by Sale, despite the best efforts of Max and Kieran to get there. TJ from the sidelines pointed out that if he’d been on he would have been on the back post to nod it in, maybe next time TJ! The Cougars proceeded to camp in the Sale half pushing Sale to defend deeper and deeper. Surely it was only a matter of time until they got a well-deserved equaliser? However, when the inevitable Sale counter attack happened, the Cougars were nearly caught napping, with only Tom, Brendan and Jamie there at the back to repulse the attack. Jamie cleared one of the Sale shots off the line, as Nathan was called upon to make some more close range saves, one a little too close to the Sale attacker for comfort!

This short period of pressure lead to great break from defence to the Sale end of the pitch involving Jamie out on the wing, working closely with William and Kieran, to win a corner for the Cougars, as Will and Joe came off to make way for TJ and Luis. However once again the Cougars couldn’t convert their dominance and Sale came back at them. The next series of corners that then took place were at the other wrong end of the pitch, most of them headed away by Tom in excellent form, defending the goal in style, ably assisted by TJ, also using his head!

Shortly after, the ball went out of play close to the spectators, much to the consternation of the watching parents, as the cakes Joe had brought to celebrate his birthday with the team post match had a narrow escape!

Defence was the order of the day during the next part of the match as Nathan pulled of some good saves, diving for one, catching another, with Tom heading away the ever present threat of the Sale attack once again. But the Cougars decided enough was enough and were soon on the counter once again, culminating with Luis’s superb volley, which flew millimetres over the crossbar. John could be seen head in hands, wondering when on earth the Cougar’s luck would change and the net would bulge. 

The tension from this time onward was palpable and became even more intense for the watching parents, as the end of the match drew close but only one goal separated the teams. The Cougars kept their attacks coming, with corners and throw-ins won, with more shots on goal, including another belter from Luis, following a cross from Kieran. However it was not to be. It was simply a case of so near yet so far as a share of the points eluded the Cougars this time, but only just! The game ended with the score at 1-0, yet in some ways, strangely, it felt like a win. The boys had played so well, had done themselves proud and could easily, with a dose of luck, have captured their second win of the season (we still count the Hough End Griffins result even if they did leave the league afterwards only to reappear in the 4^th division a couple of weeks later!!!!).

This was another great team performance from the Cougars, despite missing Jake and Connor to illness (get well soon). Atakan’s presence was also missed as he prepares to make his acting debut, for the Scamps Youth Company, on the ‘silky stage’ in Footloose at the Evans Theatre, Wilmslow Leisure Centre, running each night this week at 7.30pm http://www.scampstheatre.co.uk

The team played their hearts out, in their best performance of the season and deserved so much more than the final score. The team had practised the pass, look up, receive routine in training and it was fantastic to see so many of them translating their excellent training work into more effectiveness on the pitch. There should be no blame for the own goal, as John said, we win as team, we draw as a team and we lose as a team – it’s never just down to one person – often it is simply due to the situation team players find themselves in, something to which the whole team contributes.

The boys should be very proud of themselves for such a great performance and such a close match. If they keep this up then the next win shouldn’t be too far away!

Many thanks to Andy for another excellent linesman performance and to Sam Potter for the scrumptious fairy cakes in honour of Joe’s birthday! Thanks as always to all the friends and family who came to support the team and saw another great team performance.

GBK Man of the Match: Jamie for a fine Captain’s performance, working hard yet intelligently for the whole game, as he becomes an increasingly creative force in the team, getting stronger in both attack and defence, with improved movement off the ball and compensating for players out of position.

Crunchie Moment:  Luis for that cracking volley on goal, a real rocket of a shot!

Rolo Moment:  Tom for keeping his head up after Sale’s deflected goal, for those excellent defensive headers in the box and running Jamie very close for Man of the Match.