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17 April 2011 Match report for Wilmslow Town U12 Panthers 1 - 3 home defeat to Benchill Celtic U12 Warriors (17/04/2011)
A glorious sunny afternoon greeted the Panthers as they pitted their wits against Benchill Celtic Warriors. The Warriors had had a rough start to the season but have significantly improved since the New Year and were guaranteed to provide stern opposition for the Panthers’ last game of the season. Needing a win to go to the top of the table and give themselves their last slim chance of the title you’d think the boys would be willing to get into the right state of mind. However a number of the Panthers were not really concentrating during the warm up enough to suggest they were really focussed on the game, preferring to mess about as has been the norm the last few weeks at training. Due to the warmth of the afternoon the game kicked off slightly early and the Panthers knew immediately they were in a game. The Warriors pressurised the Panthers down their right flank, battled hard to win the ball in midfield and snuff out the Panthers’ early attacks. Jamie looked calm in goal and easily dealt with anything that came his way early on. Max defended the left flank well as George did on the right, while TC had to work very hard to cover in the middle as the Warriors bombarded the centre of the defence with high balls. Unfortunately, although TC defended the balls in the air well, Charlie and Neil seemed very reluctant to head the ball today, preferring to let it bounce and often giving advantage to the opposition. Braden played some good balls in from the left and Shorty was as usual causing lots of difficulties with his pace. George, TB, TJ and Sam were combining well down the right. After 10 minutes this four combined to get Sam into a good position who fed the ball into Shorty who finished brilliantly – 1-0 to the Panthers. A well deserved breakthrough had been made but the Warriors were in no mood for surrender. After 20 minutes Callum, Adam, Morgan, and Joe replaced Sam, Shorty, Neil and Max. Braden slotted in well at left back and performed well while Adam and Morgan took over the central midfield duties, Both of them snapped into tackles and looked like they could win the midfield battle. Joe looked as dangerous as ever as he played superb cross-field balls in for TB and Callum to run onto. But the Warriors were persistent in their strategy of playing balls through to their dangerous strikers. A ball over the top evaded the half-hearted attempts at heading it away and bounced sweetly for their striker to lob it high over Jamie’s head to score the equaliser – 1-1. After a few more minutes battling the half ended.
After a half time talk that refocused the lads on dealing with the ball over the top, playing tighter and ensuring midfield cover, the Panthers took to the field. George and TC were immense on the right of defence, clearing anything that came their way, with George showing how good he is in the air as well as clearing powerfully. TC demonstrated his ability to snuff out danger when all looks lost. Jamie came out to clear balls well, but that couldn’t stop the Warriors once gain getting a ball over the top of the left of the defence and scoring again with a superb strike to make it 1-2. Sam, Shorty, Neil and Max joined the fray as TJ, TB, George and Braden made way. Despite Sam, Joe, Shorty and Adam creating danger, often Callum was left too far forward on his own with no support to help him. Jamie’s clearances were huge and could have been used to apply loads of pressure on the Warriors, but the Panthers seemed very reluctant to push the Warriors back into their own half and put the pressure on. Instead the Warriors seemed to push the Panthers deeper into their own half and won the ball more and more in midfield, as poor passing - and dribbling for too long with the ball without passing - let the boys down. Another long ball over the top proved the final blow to undo the Panthers, which despite attempts to clear, broke for the striker who managed to get the ball past Jamie, who couldn’t hold onto the shot. The Panthers appealed for offside but to no avail as the goal looked good from the referee’s vantage point. The Panthers then went into overdrive as their never say die attitude kicked in. For the last 15 minutes they bombarded the Warriors. Neil played superbly at right back as did Max at left. Max got his head on anything in the air as had George earlier, showing their more reluctant team mates the way. Unfortunately Morgan seemed to catch the ‘don’t head the ball’ disease from Charlie and Neil and created more difficulty for the team than would have been the case if they had followed George and Max’s lead. Shorty, Sam and Callum all went close but Callum, Sam, Joe, Shorty, Adam and earlier TJ would have had more joy if they learned to look up more and release the ball earlier, instead of dribbling into dead ends and trying to do too much themselves.
Summary
This wasn’t by any means the worst performance of the season and there were some good things to note, but the Panthers need to think about what is happening in a game more. They need to be more courageous in the challenge earlier in the game and not leave it to the last 10 minutes to turn on the turbo! Heading the ball needs to be worked on so that everyone is comfortable heading the ball and working hard on pass and move, that when employed is what makes the Panthers successful. In addition, learning to defend the ball over the top is also extremely important in reducing the number of goals the team concedes. Finally, while the aim of junior football has to be having fun with friends, to be successful the boys will need to focus more in training and in warm ups before games, as messing about is for the park rather than the way this team will behave at training next season.
The Warriors were excellent opposition and a credit to their management team and parents. Thanks to Sarah and Darren for ensuring the game was played in the right spirit as the Benchill boys played competitively but fairly and were great opponents. They are very dangerous upfront and can challenge and beat (as was proved today) any of the top sides in our division now. We also wish Sarah well with the imminent birth of her baby. Thanks also to Graham Andrew for his excellent refereeing.
Special thanks to Callum, who played his last league game for the Panthers today; he has been a fantastic player for the team for this season and will be missed very much.
Thanks to all the parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents and friends who have supported the boys all season we could not have done it without your help
GBK MOTM (Gold Award): TC for another display of excellent defending which has been such a feature of how well the Panthers have done this season. Silver Award: George for a very good performance, both on the ground and in the air, at right back. Bronze Award: Morgan for better defensive midfield work in a position he has made his own this season, that could be so much better with courageous heading and more accurate passing.
Crunchie Awards: TB, Joe and Shorty for great play up the wings, and Morgan for some great defensive clearances
Wispa Moments: TJ for great battling in midfield
 MOTM: Tom Collicott Silver: George Steel Bronze: Morgan Murphy
Team : J Nugent, T Collicott, M Forde-Dunlop, C Sciple, N Woodward, T Botham, B Harris, T Jefferis, A Leigh, M Murphy,
J Saks, S Short, G Steel, S Eyres, C McKew
 Goals : S Short
 Assists : S Eyres
Referee : Graham Andrew
Source: Clive Tyldesley << to news index
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