U13 Cougars struggle in windy conditions - Vipers put the wind up the Panthers

27 November 2011

After a much improved display against Benchill the previous week the Cougars made the long trip to league leaders Lymm determined to improve on the previous home game against them when they were soundly beaten 6-2.

An early start awaited and it was clear it was going to be a game of two halves as a strong wind was blowing straight down the exposed pitch.

The Cougars were without Derek and Jake this week and chose to adopt a 5-4-1 formation as they defended against the wind in the first half. Ahead of Patrick were a back line of Jamie and Joey at full backs with Jonathan,Ilan and Will.N at centrbacks. Will.K and Joe occupied the widemidfield places with Callum and Atikan central. Jayden played as lone striker with James and Cameron waiting to come on as subs.

1st Half

As expected Lymm took the game to the Cougars from the off and Patrick was soon called into action. The conditions made it difficult for the Cougars to get out of their own half and goal kicks were getting no further than 30 yards due to the wind. In such difficult conditions both sides found it hard to put any decent moves together and when the Cougars did manage to get the ball up to Jayden he was quickly closed down by the Lymm defence.

Jayden had to come off after 15 minutes feeling unwell so Cameron came on. Lymm have obviously spent some time practicing corners and free kicks and this proved decisive as the took the lead from a corner with an attacker running in from outside the area and flicking the ball in at the far post as the Cougars defence could only look on. Lymm doubled their lead a few minutes later from another corner as an attacker headed against the post and was quickest to the rebound thumping the ball past Patrick to make the score 2-0. It would have been 3-0 from another corner but for a goal line Clarence by Will.K.

The Cougars did manage to force two corners themselves but both were wasted as the ball was delivered behind the goal. The Cougars were also unable to test the Lymm keeper in the first half such was the pressure they were under at the back. Patrick made a number of important saves in the first period to keep the score to 2-0 and as the half time whistle blew the Cougars realised that with conditions in their favour in the second half they were still very much in contention

2nd Half

James was introduced into the action in the second half as the Cougars went with a slightly more attacking 4-5-1 formation. In the early exchanges they enjoyed more possession with Will.N and Atikan driving the team on from the centre. Joe and Will.K were now seeing more of the ball as well and the back line were able to move up to half way more often.

The Cougars pressure began to tell and they pulled a goal back as Lymm stopped expecting offside to be signalled Cameron took the ball on and laid off to Joe who rolled the ball into an empty net. Despite the lymm appeals for what was probably offside the referee signalled a goal and the Cougars were definitely back in the match.

The Cougars continued to press forward and forced a series of corners, as in the first half though these were poorly delivered and either went out of play or failed to beat the first defender.

Lymm looking dangerous extended their lead after a break on the left and scored a fourth after a similar break down the right. Patrick made several good saves to keep the score respectable and was injured as he advanced outside his box to cut out a through ball. He bravely continued as Lymm finished the match the stronger team.

Just before the end Will.K broke free down the left and cutting in hit the post from a tight angle. This underlined that it was not going to be the cougars day, and the final whistle blew with the score 4-1 to Lymm.

Summary

Although this was not a thrashing against what is a very competent Lymm team the Cougars did not perform particularly well as a team today and there were only a couple of good individual performances as Lymm fared much better in the difficult conditions. Will.N was very steady at the back in the first half and battled away in midfield in the second period. Joey performed very well in an unfamiliar right back role, The Man of the Match award however was deservedly given to Patrick who performed brilliantly in goal and kept the score line respectable.

A big difference between the teams is how they fared at set pieces both attacking and defending , Lymm look well rehearsed at corners and scored their first two goals from these. The Cougars will look to improve in this area in training.

 Managers Comments

Firstly i want to apologies for not really saying much to the team after the game.  Apart from being disappointed at the result and performance, I'm at a loss as to what to do to improve the results.

Again, as in the first game against Benchill two weeks ago, i feel there were too many players playing below par.  For some reason against certain teams we seem fearful of putting in some decent tackles.  If we don't learn how to tackle and pass the ball soon, we are never going to be better than an average side.

  I don't know if its because Lymm are this seasons top team but we seem to be showing some teams too much respect.  Obviously the conditions weren't perfect but it was the same disadvantage for both teams.  Lymm were a lot more comfortable on the ball and passed the ball well.  We didn't do that at all.

As bill says we need to practice corners. Although we can blame the windy conditions, their corners were far more effective than ours. 

When we pulled a goal back to make it 2-1, i was convinced we could go on and win it as the wind was behind us but again we sat back when the game was there for the taking and didn't take advantage of the conditions.

The only saving grace at this point is the teams directly below us are also dropping points at the same time as we do which means we are still  in 4th position in the league (Amazingly).  Unfortunately, the 3 teams above us are now quickly pulling away from the rest.  This now looks like a mini-league within a league scenario where us and the rest are all in a race for 4th spot!  Not great is it?

Next up, Urmston Town Colts who, although are scoring lots of goals, are conceding a shed-load of goals too.  The instructions for this coming Sunday?....Attack...Attack....Attack!

Source: bill kennedy

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