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19 September 2010 Match report for Wilmslow Town U12 Panthers 2 - 9 away win against Timperley Athletic U12 (19/09/2010)
The Panthers arrived at the Timperley Athletic home ground, as the rain drizzled down only to be greeted with a warm welcome and the offer of tea or coffees at the clubhouse. The Panthers were this week without both Nathan and Harry, so Adam stepped up into the role of keeper - despite some last minute nerves – looking for all the world, an assured regular goalkeeper on the pitch.
The team lined up with Adam, TC, Teddy, Charlie, Max, George, Jamie, Braden, Shorty, Callum and TJ on the field, and the game began at pace. The Panthers started well, but Timperley had obviously gained in confidence since the last match and went on the attack early, following an early skirmish by the Panthers. Adam was out at once with confidence and passed it back out wide to TC for a good clearance. The ball made its way up field until it reached George, who with a lovely pass got it to Shorty who wasted no time putting it into the back of the net, 1-0 to the Panthers. Timperley were clearly ready for this and launched an attack of their own, determined from the kick off that the score was not going to go the same way as last week. A long looping shot came from the Timperley wing over Adam’s head and into the top corner of the net – he stood no chance – it would have gone in even if Nathan or Harry had been in net (or Pepe Reina for that matter…). Teddy and TC were working well together to repel the Timperley attackers, however Adam was called upon to make a save soon after this and was not found wanting, taking the catch cleanly. Timperley attacked once again, with TC having a sliding challenge inflicted on him, long after the ball had gone, however thanks to a quick reaction, no harm done.
The Panthers regrouped and began to test the Timperley defence once more, as Shorty let fly a shot at the keeper and Teddy’s clearance up field from a Timperley player turned into an assist, as Braden slotted in his first goal with ease, 2-1 to the Panthers. Between these two moves there was a comedy moment as TC’s throw in became a backwards drop… But the action didn’t stop there, there was a great cross into the box from TC, and a throw in from Max led to Callum having a shot on goal, going wide this time. A penalty shout was denied by the referee and the following scuffle saw Braden have a shot at goal, but he slipped and was unable to connect, so the ball went out for a corner. Jamie sent it in as Shorty rose to greet it with a strong header, but again it went wide. A series of throw-ins ensued, one with no clear outlet possible until TJ made himself available, with no Timperley player within 10 feet of him, enabling him to have a strong long range shot at goal, which was caught by the goalie. The ball went back and forth for a while …. at one stage while all the action was going on at the goal mouth, Teddy could be seen athletically swatting what seemed to be high flying insects…then the ball had to be rescued from the ditch again by John hanging onto Stuart for dear life, no mean feat bearing in mind the steep bank, iron grid and brambles… A great ball up field from Max into the box saw Braden streaking across the field to intercept it, winning a corner in the process. A superb corner from George flew across the box for Callum to bury the ball in the net, 3-1 to the Panthers!
Charlie made a crucial block and cleared the ball out of danger, this move and his excellent earlier play showing an assurance as a centre back that belied his lack of experience in the role. Braden had a shot on goal which was caught by the goalie, just before the Panthers made their substitutions. TB, Morgan, Joe and Neil came on as Jamie, TJ, George and Shorty switched to roles on the bench. Braden’s corner was picked up by TC, but his shot went over the bar. The resultant counter attack by Timperley saw Charlie tested as they broke, but Adam came out to scoop the ball up with confidence. A throw in near the goal saw Adam in control, telling the defence where they needed to be in no uncertain terms (shades of Nathan here methinks….). Neil made his presence felt with some great midfield battling and a cracking through ball which resulted in a corner, which Neil also took, the interception going wide, however a shot soon after this from Braden went straight to the keeper, who was well off his line. (Note from Manager: a chip like his later goal would have given him a hat trick).
Following the substitutions, TB was the first to threaten with a cross that turned into a shot on goal, which the goalie caught, however Joe was soon off up the wing and crossing the ball in to Braden who with a sublime flick lobbed the ball over the despairing goalie’s outstretched arms for his second and it was now 4-1 to the Panthers. Following a well placed goal kick by Adam, TC passed the ball though to TB who went on to go down the wing and crossed the ball in, a difficult thing to do when running at speed. The goal kick that followed afterwards was not the best from the Timperley goalie, and Callum almost made him pay dearly for this, as he picked it up and had a shot on goal. Max, with yet another throw-in - as was his wont in this game, carefully wiping the ball each time on his top - gave his Mum palpitations as his lovely white shirt got muckier and muckier….
The whistle blew and the half time team talk commenced. Interestingly we had a repeat performance of the half time photo from last week, Morgan last week, this week Braden, where they could be seen playing with the ball, not listening to the team talk out of John’s eye line. Not good. [Note from the Manager – anyone doing this during the half time team talk in future will not play in the second half]
Second half
The second half hadn’t started long before Callum and Braden were involved in a neat one-two - Callum passed to Braden then back to Callum - as they cut through the Timperley defence and Callum’s one-on-one with the goalie resulted in a coolly taken goal. 5-1 to the Panthers. Neil was yet again making his presence felt in midfield, marauding up and down the pitch, Callum had another shot on goal (again caught by the goalie) which was almost followed by another, courtesy of an excellent cross in from TB. Joe turned supplier next with some great build up play, eventually feeding Morgan the ball, who made sure of the next goal, unleashing it to make it 6-1 to the Panthers…
You might expect Timperley to give up the ghost as this point, but all credit to them, they kept on battling, despite the next succession of shots from Callum, Neil and finally Teddy, who managed to convert a chance from a mad scramble in the goal mouth to make it 7-1. Substitutions were made at this point – Callum, Max, Charlie and Braden came off allowing Shorty, Jamie, TB and George to go back on the field. Some great man marking from Morgan at a throw in was in evidence as the thrower struggled to find an outlet for the throw – more movement like this from everyone else please in future!
Timperley kept pushing forward whenever they could, and eventually their persistence paid off as a rocket of a shot hit the bottom left hand corner of the net – again for this, Adam had no chance – and again, even the best goalies would have struggled to reach this shot, never mind stop it.
The game moved more from end to end at this point – TJ’s shot went wide, Joe showed some full on physical defending skills, Neil had a shot caught by the goalie, and Teddy went for a roll in the mud with one of the Timperley attackers in his efforts to stop a break, obviously competing with Max for the filthiest football top….
Morgan, Shorty and George combined, with George’s shot almost getting in, beating the goalie - only for it to be cleared off the line by a Timperley defender - fantastic defending against a difficult shot. Teddy, Neil and George again combined for another shot which was caught by the goalie, Jamie chipped a lovely ball over to Shorty whose shot was also caught by the goalie and Neil then showed his defensive skills as he put in a great clearance in front of the Panthers goal. Shorty, in a superb solo effort went on a driving run up the centre of midfield, scything through the Timperley defence until it was just him and the goalie. Despite a slight clip by the goalie, Shorty kept his balance and virtually walked the ball into the net, until instead, he decided to blast it in from six inches, perhaps attempting to burst the net in the process. It was now 8-2 to the Panthers! Despite the high score the team were still keen for more goals, TB making a break down the wing and crossing into the box, but it was Shorty with a surprise long range rocket that finished the scoring after Morgan supplied the ammunition. George combined with TJ for his shot cutting in from the wing, which again the goalie caught, then Morgan had a go. To their credit Timperley kept pushing (their manager had told them they were still in it at 6-2, so what difference would a few more goals make?) and when the defence shouted incorrectly for an offside and the whistle wasn’t blown, the Panthers were almost caught flat footed, except for Neil tracking back into the left back position and clearing for a Timperley corner. This was one of one of their better efforts and only a strong cross field clearance from Jamie kept it away from the goal. The last attack of the game came from a cross from Jamie to Joe, however the fates obviously felt we had enough goals to be going on with, as the whistle blew for full time.
Thanks to Andy C for running the line and also to all the friends and family who came to support the boys in somewhat wet conditions.
GBK Man of the Match: Callum
Dream Team results: Gold Callum for a great all round performance, his tracking back, one-twos, crossing and passing as well as his two goals Silver TC for a good solid performance at the back, well chosen timely forward movement, excellent positional play and organisation of the defence, Bronze: Braden for intelligent forward play and slick finishing.
Crunchie Moments: (awarded for moments of great football that need to be encouraged) Morgan for some great movement around throw-ins and TJ for great awareness of space and opportunities at throw-ins
Wispa Moments: ([also known as Rolo moments] awarded for comical scenes, acts of bravery or trying an outrageous skill that doesn’t quite work or even an embarrassing moment someone would rather forget…) TC for the throw-in of a wet ball that slipped backwards out of his hands, and Max for his determination to make it worthwhile for his mum to wash his football top by drying the ball carefully (like Rory Delap without the towel) before he threw it…pity TC didn’t do it to dry the ball before his reverse throw-in!
(Apologies to those of you who weren’t familiar with the reasons behind these awards, we’ve been doing it so long I had forgotten that not everyone knows why we do them or what I’m talking about when I give them out – I gather sometimes I have been too cryptic – sorry! [It’s not just the players who get ranted at by the manager….]).
Assists: George 2, Joe 2, Ted, Braden and Morgan
Goals: Shorty 3, Callum 2, Braden 2, Morgan and Teddy
Although the score line was better than last week, the most important thing was that the performance was so much better – more passing, more movement and importantly more tracking back and covering when other team mates were pushing forward.
As there were a number of people wanting to get away early, we rushed through the post match team talk and as a result a few people who should have been mentioned were not. For example, a special mention is due to Adam, who stepped into the breach this week and took up the gauntlet of being the Panthers goalie in style. Although not in his preferred position, Adam had a great game and didn’t put a foot wrong so should be recognised for his contribution today. In future we will try to take the time to ensure that full feedback can be given to the boys after the match.
We have listed the goals and assists for the match above as we have realised that not everyone is aware of the website pages where this type of information is listed (see the stats page on the team section and also the ‘Annually Retentive’ page). At the moment, Adam and Callum appear in the club-wide top 10 goal scorers, while Charlie, George and Joe are in the club-wide top 10 assists list which is a great start to the season for the team. In the Panthers, (as in the Cougars last year) we regard the assists as being every bit as important as the goals, if not more important. Therefore it is important we don’t simply reward goal scoring, as this could be potentially destructive to team play, and instead balance it by rewarding all the other important aspects of team play.
Just a couple of points on the Man of the Match voting - in order to avoid the same people being down at GBK every week, we’ll have a two week break before someone can be voted for Man of the Match again, similar to the longer break used with the Cougars last season. The boys will need to think carefully when they vote, as when there are a lot of good performances in a match, there is a tendency to simply vote for the goal scorers, rather than on performance. If it is just done on goal scoring, we will end up with a number of ‘unsung heroes’ who will not get the recognition they deserve for putting in great performances which indirectly help the team to score goals or prevent the opposition from scoring any.
Managers comments (no really - no rant this week)
This was a superb performance today with every member of the team contributing to an excellent result. Overall the team’s defensive shape was much better than last week and the energy and commitment of the team was incredible. Adam, had a great debut in goal, playing with assurance showing he was learning from one attack to the next as he became increasingly effective, clearing his lines intelligently and never (at least if he did we can’t remember) giving the ball to the opposition. TC showed what a great Captain he is with another excellent commanding, performance at both right and centre back and deservedly has been awarded the full-time role as captain (Vice Captain role is still vacant and will be chosen over the next couple of weeks). Teddy was immense in both defence and dangerous in attack at set plays while helping TC considerably in organising the defence. Charlie showed increasing assurance at centre back and what a good all round player he is becoming. Max was solid and stylish with great positioning and an ability with his powerful yet intelligent clearances, how to turn defence into attack after well timed tackles and interceptions. Joe and TB both showed their versatility in playing both an attacking winger role and full back role, with pace, skill and determination as well as ever improving ability to cross at pace. George and Jamie showed how they can play equally comfortably on either wing bringing intelligent movement combined with great passing, crossing and team play plus deadly dead ball skills. Callum and Shorty showed how pace and single minded determination to score can be devastating to defences as well as the willingness to challenge and tackle opponents a foot taller and twice the weight, a skill that TJ also showed in abundance along with skill and finesse in finding great passes and positional awareness that is second to none in midfield. Neil showed his adaptability and skill in an excellent display of central midfield play combining accurate shot and long passing, box-to-box running, last ditch defending and great corners. Morgan showed strength and a good range of passing as well as the ability to frighten defenders as he drives at them at pace and then unleash lethal strikes on goal. Braden in his best performance by far as a Panther showed sublimely cool finishing ability today as well as intelligent runs to cut through defensive offside traps.
This week’s training focus: set piece play.
 MOTM: Callum McKew Silver: Tom Collicott Bronze: Braden Harris
Team : A Leigh, T Botham, T Collicott, M Forde-Dunlop, C Sciple, T Strang, T Jefferis, C McKew, J Nugent, J Saks,
G Steel, N Woodward, B Harris, M Murphy, S Short
 Goals : T Strang, C McKew (2), B Harris (2), M Murphy, S Short (3)
 Assists : T Strang, J Saks (2), G Steel (2), B Harris, M Murphy
Referee : Dominic Kirrane
Source: Helen << to news index
Wilmslow Town U12 Panthers : More Information
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