U13 Cougars gain point at Partington - Cougars suffering xmas hangover fail to punish understrength Partington

22 January 2012

Apologies for a shorter than normal report on this weeks match though this is primarilly due to having very little positive to talk about from a very poor showing by the team who took on a weakened Partington team after a 6 week break.

The Match

Partington started with only 8 and were without their star player, and were also were facing a strong breeze blowing into their faces as the Cougars minus an injured Derek set about exacting revenge for the corresponding fixture last year when the Cougars with only 9 players narrowly lost out.

After a delayed kick off of of 15 minutes the Cougars went on the attack but struggled to put any passing moves together in the difficult conditions. Although it was all one way traffic the Cougars were unable to get a shot on target.

The deadlock was eventually broken when Atikan bundled the ball and the keeper into the net from Joe's corner. Joe made it 2-0 shortly afterwards when his deflected free kick was too strong for the keeper.

By this time Partington were up to 10 but the Cougars were still dominating and should have put the game beyond them. James playing in attack was crowded out time after time and as half time arrived and Partington's 11th man appeared it was obvious that a 2 goal advantage was not enough.

With Will.K moved into attack in the second period the Cougars made a couple of chances to increase the lead, but these were wasted and Partington grew in confidence. Patrick was now the busier keeper and as usual was handling well. ahead of him Ilan, Jon, and Will N were struggling to get the ball away.

The pressure eventually told and Partington halved the defecit after a break down the left, and with a few minutes to go drew level after some comical defending.

Even so the Cougars had a chance to nick the points after James now playing in a more familiar wide left position made a good run down the wing, his cross found Joe free 6 yards out but again the chance went begging and the final whistle sounded with the scores level.

Summary

Whether it was due to the long break or down to over confidence in facing a weakened team the Cougars were well below par today, and missed the opportunity of closing the gap on the teams above them in the league. Attention is now focused on next weeks cup game at Timperley where a better showing is expected.

Source: bill kennedy

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