» 17 :: Jan :: 2010

U9 Pumas fought hard for a draw

After the first half of the season being a disapointing period with some heavy defeats improving into some hard fought draws, 2010 could only get better.

We started off the year against Junior Reds Athletic, a team who when at our ground battled hard in an evenly matched 1-1 draw. We had an independant referee for this game as the previous one ended with some croud trouble from Junior Reds parents. He had a very good game in what was a battle from start to finish.

We started off on the back foot, looking like a team who had not played for 5 weeks. Junior Reds put us under constant pressure with some last ditch defending from Katie, Taner and Bruce keeping us in the game. Finaly we broke into their half and after some good passing from Rhys and Kewne the ball fell to Rhys who cooly tucked it away to put us 1-0 up. After the goal Junior Reds continued to pressure us at the back and after some poor defending with their number 10 being given too much space he blasted it into the top corner giving Jack no chance. 1-1. After soaking up some more pressure the Pumas again broke into their half and after some nifty footwork Kewne struck the ball home from a tight angle on the left hand side of the box. We went in at half time 2-1 up.

After a roasting from the manager(me)at half time the Pumas started the second pretty much the same as the first with some desperate defending. Credit to Junior Reds as they kept coming at us time and again creating several chances which Jack in goal and the defence doing well to keep out. Finaly they did manage to score a scrambled goal after the ball was not cleared from our penalty box. The third soon followed which was a good strike but the ball should have been cleared before they had the chance to shoot.2-1 up to 3-2 down! Towards the end of the game Grant went on a run but was cruelly cut down just outside the box and the following free kick was dealt with by the Reds defence. With 2 minutes to go and after a last ditch change to personel Kewne, Rhys Jamie and Scott all pushed forward into the Junior Reds box and with the ball bouncing around it finaly dropped in front of Rhys who stabbed home past a stranded keeper to make it 3-3. With a minute to go and all our parents going crazy with excitement Junior Reds again attacked with force and after a handball from Jack who slid out of the box on the mud they had a free kick in a dangerous position. This was dealt with by our defence and finaly cleared away as the referee blew the final whistle, to the relief of our parents. (and myself)

Overall this was a good evenly matched and entertaining game and both teams deserve credit.

Team : Jack Eves, Katie Jeffries, Taner Enver, Jamie Dunbar, Scott Harvey, Alex Hoven, Bruce Dias, Rhys Baxter, Kewne Uteodor, Grant Young

Man of the Match : Rhys baxter - Back to his best, with 2 goals and a spirited performance that had been lacking in recent matches.

Special mention - Alex Hoven - Given a very difficult man to man marking job on a boy 1 foot taller than him!

Special mention - Bruce Dias - Some excellent positional play covering for the defenders when they were attacking.

Matt Leeds