Panthers show growing strength against champions - Drenched in Didsbury

17 July 2010

Click image above for larger pictures / slideshow
30 images available

Gorgeous blue skies greeted the waking Panthers as they set off for the Stockport Vikings Under 12 Tournament.  But arrival in Didsbury saw blue skies turn to grey as the rain began to fall. A freshly mown, Old Bedians Rugby Club provided the backdrop for a 20 team - 11 aside tournament. Gazebo erected, team registered and warm up completed, the Panthers found themselves placed in the toughest group of the tournament. Perhaps, this was unsurprising as an earlier incarnation of today's team had knocked the tournament organisers, Stockport Vikings, out of the Cheadle Heath Tournament in May.

The group consisted of:

Moston Juniors 'A'- whose roll of honour included sweeping the board in the Tameside League last season, winning the treble, and winning the last tournament the Panthers were in two weeks ago in Rossendale to name but a few

Matthiola JFC 'A' - Warrington Junior Football League Division 1 champions

Woolston Rovers 'A' - Runner's up to Matthiola in Warrington League Division 1

Lisbon St Anthony's - Stockport Metro Division 4 Mid-Table

Unaware of the talented company they were pitted against, the Panthers kicked off the first 8 minutes each way game

Game1 : Panthers 1 Lisbon St Anthony's 0

Team: Nathan, Harry, TB, Teddy, Max, George, TC, Adam, Braden, Jamie, Morgan. Subs: TJ, Neil and Kieran

The Panthers got off to a good start taking the game to Lisbon, putting them under pressure, with Teddy marshalling the defensive line of TB, Harry and Max on the halfway line to play an aggressive offside trap fooling the Lisbon forwards a few times. The midfield of Adam and TC controlled the play enabling a good passing game to ensue, bringing both Braden and George into the game on the flanks and providing service to Jamie and Morgan as they tormented the Lisbon defence. The refereeing of this game was excellent as he did the job of three people accurately and fairly, keeping the game flowing. Despite the pressure, the first half ended 0-0. Nathan picked up the ball from a couple of offside decisions, which gives an indication how much the Panthers dominated the half. The second half began with Lisbon rallying from the kick off and won a couple of corners that were easily defended, until the Panthers re-established control. Max, in fine form again, slid an inch perfect through-ball to Morgan, who out-sprinted the Lisbon defence and slotted the ball past the advancing keeper. And so the game ended 1-0 to the Panthers.

Game 2: Panthers 0 Woolston Rovers 'A' 1 (Capt. Braden)

1st Half Team: Nathan, Kieran, Neil, Teddy, Max, TC, TJ, George Braden, Jamie, Morgan

2nd Half Team: Nathan, Kieran, Neil, Teddy, Max, TB, TJ, Harry, Adam, TC, Morgan

The Panthers once again started well, but Woolston proved a stronger team than the Lisbon boys, as would be expected from a Division 1 runner up . A very even game ensued with neither team dominating. Both team liked to pass the ball so the game ebbed and flowed but with nether team penetrating - the first half ending 0-0. The second half saw Woolston beginning to dominate as Neil, Kieran and Max carried on playing with slight injuries. Woolston's slight dominance began to tell when Woolston got a favourable offside decision, which was not made easy for the ref as the defence were struggling with the injuries to keep their back line straight. The Woolston striker broke through and beat Nathan, giving him little chance with an excellent finish. The main cause of the goal however, was failing to clear the ball from the box convincingly moments earlier. And so the game ended 0-1.

Game 3: Panthers 0 Moston Juniors 2 (Capt. Nathan)

Team: Nathan, Harry, TB, Teddy, Braden, TC, TJ, George, Adam, Morgan, Jamie

With Kieran, Neil and Max nursing injuries, the team picked itself, with only positions to be sorted out. Braden took a hit for the team and played in a less favoured role of left back but performed well. As once again the team held their own against a very good Moston team who had beaten all-comers during the last year, as well as beating another of the Panthers' rivals, Bamber Bridge, in Rossendale two weeks ago. However the Panthers, knowing they needed to win the game, battled hard and the game took on the feel of an aerial battle rather than the flowing passing game of the first two games. After a couple of offside decisions had not been given, calling Nathan into action, the Moston striker from a yard and a half offside put Moston in the lead. But as is the way of the Panthers, with little complaint, they got on with the job of trying to get back into the game. TC made a great break down the wing only to mishit his cross behind the goal. Subsequently he was replaced by Neil,  who was still recovering from being studded on the foot. The second half saw the team once again battling hard against the Moston boys, with Morgan, George, Adam and Jamie pressing strongly to win the ball in their half and great defensive work from Harry, TJ, Teddy and Kieran to keep the ball coming back at Moston. However, the Panthers saw no joy in breaking down the Moston defence. This was compounded by the ball bouncing up nastily in the box and hitting Braden's hand. But amazingly, the ref gave a penalty for a clear ball to hand incident, completely inconsistent with the refereeing in the previous two games, where much more likely candidates for handball had been in our opinion rightly waved on as ball to hand. Nathan made himself difficult to beat as he looked threateningly at the Moston penalty taker. He guessed correctly, diving to his left, only to be beaten by centimetres. It was an excellent powerful penalty in the corner of the net. Nathan, knowing how close he was to saving it, feeling the injustice of the penalty and knowing that saving it could turn the game was quickly consoled by his teammates and soon recovered his composure, returning to his usual confident and commanding self between the sticks. Despite Morgan, Adam, TJ George and Jamie combining well to pressurise the Moston defence, Jamie found his leg raked with metal blades, while TB took a punching in the back from his opposite number in what was becoming a fractious affair, as Moston struggled to gain supremacy (apart from their two very fortunate goals. Max replaced Jamie but the short match time meant the Panthers were unable to recover from these two dubious goals). Nevertheless this was a very good performance against a very good team.

Game 4:  Panthers 1 Matthiola JFC 1 (Capt. George)

Team: Nathan, Kieran, Neil, Teddy, Max, Harry, TJ, TC, Braden, Adam and George. Subs Jamie 

With no hope of qualifying for the quarter finals, the Panthers set about restoring their pride against the Warrington League Champions. As they passed the ball around well and took the game to Matthiola, Matthiola resisted well and came back at the Panthers playing equally attractive football. Harry and TJ won the ball well in midfield while Ted once again commanded the defence with authority. TC looked to threaten with his pace as Neil, Kieran and Max returned to their defensive duties with aplomb.  However Max was soon struggling with a recurring hip injury so Jamie took the hit for the team to play at left back. Teddy and Jamie combined well to keep the tricky pacy right winger at bay, while Harry and TJ tried to create the opportunities for Adam and George to break through. The chance finally came after a free kick was given for an all too frequent push in the back. Jamie whipped a curling cross in over the Matthiola defence as Adam broke through to finish in style. 1-0 to the Panthers. Half time came and Morgan replaced the goal scoring Adam. Matthiola fought back hard after the break, once again using the right wing as their preferred route to open up the Panthers. Jamie and Ted worked hard to keep them at bay and would have benefitted from more help from the midfield as having been pulled out of the box to defend one of these attacks, the right winger pulled the ball back and got a cross in which the team failed to clear convincingly again, and Matthiola equalised. Matthiola continued to pressurise and thought they had taken the lead but for a good offside decision from the referee. The ensuing argument resulted in the Matthiola manager demonstrating that the respect campaign has still not reached far enough, and after an excellent assertive display from the referee found himself sent off to finish watching the game from behind the barrier. The second half was problematic for the Panthers as Morgan and George played as two strikers and were too far removed from the midfield to get into the game, often with at least 25 yards between themselves and the midfield. The role of the player in the hole is to link midfield not to play as a second striker. As a result, unsurprisingly, we never threatened the Matthiola goal again and the game ended 1-1.

Last game concluded, qualification out of the question, disappointment was banished once gain as the Panthers invaded the bouncy castle, as is becoming one of their favourite tournament habits, albeit amid torrents of rain this time!

Summary

Overall the Panthers played very well, and are grateful to Gary and his Stockport Vikings team of organisers for providing such a high standard of opposition in their assigned group, for them to develop in readiness for next season. On that subject, one key lesson learned is that it is very difficult for a team drilled in playing the offside trap aggressively, to defend effectively without appropriate decision making from the referee. In game three, not one offside decision was made, despite players being in offside positions regularly, when the ball was passed through to them. Refereeing without assistance from the touchlines in such situations is obviously problematic, and unfortunately without 'Respect', ends up in the situation in game 4, where frustration results in touchline arguments. However for referees to be helped in this aspect of the game, particularly at Junior level, we must encourage as much as we can the use of assistants to run the line and for them, at least be able to flag what appears to be offside situations, but leaving the final decision to the referee. To do anything else makes playing offside at the junior level an exercise in futility and frustration, due to the wide variation in application of the rule.

That aside, the Panthers are quickly gelling as a team, showing they can hold their own against some of the very best opposition in North West England, albeit in the rather artificial format of a tournament. All the players acquitted themselves well and are playing attractive passing football. Nathan showed as always what a good goalkeeper he is pulling off some vital saves and nearly saving a penalty. Harry, Neil, Max, Kieran, TB, Jamie and Braden all showed they can defend well under the excellent defensive leadership of Ted. In addition, TJ, TB, Harry, Adam, Jamie, George, Morgan, Braden, and TC all showed how well they can combine, and how flexible they are in playing in different positions, in both midfield and attack. Not to say that Teddy, Max Neil and Kieran would not have responded equally well to those opportunities as well. This all bodes well for the team to continue to develop into the flowing, creative, attacking team they aspire to be, who are comfortable playing wherever they find themselves on the field of play.

Increasing our ability to create goal scoring chances and finish them is something we need to work on. As is heading and chesting the ball confidently, since a number of the boys seem to prefer to give away free kicks for 'foot-up' or are simply unable to control the ball, having contorted themselves like a gymnast, instead of heading the ball or chesting it. Over-elaborate attempts at flicks and tricks are not required when simply controlling the ball and passing it would also be a useful thing to do, especially when the 'fancy tricks' aren't completed successfully most of the time. I am all for players having tricks that they can execute well to open up defences, but back flicks when under pressure from an opposing team in your own half, is likely to leave the team vulnerable more often than not. Finally the lads need to learn to time challenges more carefully, as rushing to tackle often half heartedly or fully committed but poorly positioned leaves them out of the ensuing play, as an opponent gets past them too easily. For those who do time their tackles well, ruin it too often by being on the ground and out of the ensuing play, so 'staying on your feet' and hassling opponents appropriately before delivering a well timed  and executed tackle is also an important aspect of the game that continues to need attention.

Finally on the subject of acceptable team behaviour, there were three examples today of what is unacceptable, because it does not help the team or individual concerned to develop.

Blaming others for something that was an individual’s responsibility is a behaviour that erodes team spirit and if heard will result in substitution.

Sulking when things are not going your way reduces individual and team effectiveness and if spotted will result in substitution. However being upset because you have made a mistake or have just missed an opportunity to score or stop a goal, is perfectly okay,  as long as you get over it quickly and it doesn’t end up in sulking. Teammates expressing their concern to upset teammates is great and is very much encouraged

Lastly, at half time out of earshot of John, the captain for one of the games apparently also blamed one of his teammates for the offside goal through not heading the ball clear and berated the defence for not being able to clear the ball. Again, this is not acceptable, as goals are not caused simply by one player or a couple of players or just the defence etc…they are a team achievement and for which everyone must take responsibility. Moreover, the role of the captain is not to blame teammates when things go wrong, but rather to build the team's confidence back up afterwards, to enable them to get back into the game. Such behaviour if heard would also have resulted in a substitution.

While the whole team performed well and is developing well three players were judged to have performed very well.:

Adam improved al lot as the tournament progressed, playing with increasing confidence, reducing what he was doing to simpler things like passing and moving well, rather than trying too many fancy flicks, tricks and body contortions, timing his challenges better and showing how good he is attacking the opposition box and scored a great goal.

Morgan showed strength, determination, good touch, good reading of the game, willingness to defend as well as lead the line, linked very well with midfield, and showed how cool he is with a classy finish to score his goal

But Teddy was rightly voted Man of the Tournament, for a masterful defensive display, showing good leadership despite never being given the captain’s armband, timing challenges well on the whole, demonstrating his aerial ability with well executed headed clearances, always looking a threat at corners and passing his way effectively out of trouble at times and clearing appropriately when necessary. A great example to the rest of the team how good defending can be done.

Thank you to all the parents who came to support the team in the wind, drizzle and from the short cloudbursts that drenched everyone. Thanks to everyone who helped set things up and clear up at the end, without your help Stuart’s and my job would be impossible.   And so we move on…..to Keele and the exciting prospect of International and National opposition.

Man of the Tournament: Ted

Source: John

<< to news index

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