U12 Cougars continue to press for promotion - A great comeback keeps the Cougars near the top

6 March 2011

At last a sunny day and a pitch rather than a mud bath to play football on.

The Cougars lined up at Home to Lymm Vipers who only a few weeks earlier had given them a football lesson in the fixture at Lymm. The 1-2 score line did not reflect how one sided that match had been, it was only due to a brilliant goal keeping display by Patrick that the Cougars avoided a real thrashing. From that defeat though the Cougars performances had improved and they had outplayed and taken points from the two teams in the league that look destined for promotion.

With Reece returning this week the Cougars had a squad of 12 and were hopeful of being able to compete with a strong Lymm team. 

1st Half

As usual the Cougars started slowly and struggled to get the ball out of their own half, Patrick was soon called into action and the back four of Luis,Jayden, Jonathan and William were struggling to keep the Vipers at bay. Lymm won a succession of corners which the Cougars defended well.

The Cougars nearly fell behind after an attempted clearence by Luis was picked up by Patrick. The referee interpreted this as a back pass and gave a free kick 8 yards out. The Cougars all assembled on the goal line managed to clear the attempt on goal.

Callum and Connor were testing out their full backs and the Cougars went ahead against the run of play after a good run down the left by Callum the attack was only half cleared and the ball fell to Connor on the right, he skipped past his marker and clipped the ball over the advancing keeper to open the scoring.

Almost surprised to be in front the Cougars seemed to lose concentration and Lymm took full advantage scoring two quick goals in reply both following attacks that were not properly cleared each time Patrick had no chance with finishes from close range.

The Cougars then sprang into life and finished the half strongly with attempts by Reece and Connor and good runs by Callum and Emmanuel.

HT Score 1-2

2nd Half

With the wind and slope in their favour the Cougars started the second half brightly. Jake and Will N in midfield winning 50/50 balls and distributing well to Callum and connor on the flanks. Jayden was also in the thick of the action winning balls from the much larger Lymm forwards. Jonathan was also coming to meet the ball and at Full backs William and Luis were looking to get the ball up to the attackers early. Joe in the middle was working hard and was on the receiving end of some tough tackles as was Emmanuel and both spent time on the sidelines as a result.

Connor narrowly shot wide after good work by Jake Callum and Emmanuel. the equalizer was not long coming though Callum making another good run down the left cut in and played Connor in , his attempt was blocked but fell to Callum who scored from 10 yards to level the scores.

The Cougars were in the ascendancy and went ahead again after more good work down the right by Connor , Will N who had been protecting the back four superbly managed to get up in support for once and he layed the ball back to Emmanuel who finished well to make the score 3-2.

 Once again though after they had gone ahead the Cougars seemed to stop playing and Lymm quickly equalized and then could have gone ahead with only the bar coming to the Cougars rescue. Patrick was now the busiest of the two keepers and made several smart saves.

With 10 minutes left The Cougars pressed forward for the winner. William played a good long ball to Jake who took the ball forward and played in Connor who finished well to restore the Cougars lead.

Emmanuel then put the result beyond doubt when finishing well after Joe had put him clear.

Final Score 5-3

Summary

Another fine performance from the Cougars only slightly spoiled by some lapses in concentration which allowed Lymm back into contention. This win takes the Cougars up into 3rd position and with the leading teams still to meet each other the Cougars remain with an outside chance of promotion.

Managers Thoughts

Man of the Match

Awarded this week to the teams unsung hero Will N. for a great display as the fifth defender, lots of great interceptions and clearences, preventing lymm from taking control of the game.

Source: Bill Kennedy

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