Egerton v Winsford Diamonds

Egerton Pumas 5 - 3 Winsford Diamonds

On a cold and windy morning in Winsford, on a pitch that resembled more of a ski slope than football pitch, the Pumas experienced their first competitive game for over 5 weeks. Would the lack of games have any effect on there overall performance? Not if Bradley and Jack had anything to do with it! Captain Hargreaves won the toss and after getting mixed messages from his dad/manager he opted to kick downhill first. This was the half for the dribblers to shine.
And shine they did with Brad going on one of his mazy runs down the right hand side only for him to see his cross come to nothing. Ben Henthorne was now beginning to relish his new position of central midfielder and produced a pin point thru ball for Jack only for it to run away from our striker. Archie seemed to have laid off the pies over Christmas as his energy was taking him past the Winsford midfield with ease and the link up play between him and Jack at times had the home team all over the place.
Jack was beginning to find his range, firing a shot just wide of the winsford post. Then, totally against the run of play Winsford scored, a weak back pass allowed there striker to nip in and score, cue the silly celebration of running to the Egerton parents kissing his badge, with only 5 minutes on the clock, good idea......i think not.
This sparked the pumas into life and the move of the game which saw 4 passes played, taking the ball from defence to attack in a matter of seconds saw Jack hit the post, he was getting closer. Ben then produced another fine ball for Bradley to run onto, giving him a one on one opportunity with the keeper, his shot was destined to burst the net, only for it to carry on rising past the beaten keeper and onto and over the bar. How much longer could Winsford hang on? Approx 30 seconds sounds about right as Ben received the ball in the area with his back to goal, a quick turn and shot by him saw his shot fly into the bottom corner 1-1, no silly celebrations, just straight back to the center circle. The Pumas wanted more.
The Pumas were now the dominant team, with winsford being reduced to shooting from range, their nearest effort flying high over the bar. Then came Jack's moment to shine, a great piece of passing play saw Jack one on one with the keeper, he cooly rounded him to slot the ball into the empty net, great composure, great goal. 2-1. Freddie wanted in on the action and a strong and determined run by him almost saw him add his name to the scoresheet but his shot was well saved.
Once again, against the run of play Winsford equalised, a bit of luck and a cool finish and the score was back level HT 2-2

The second half got off to the worst possible start, with the winsford winger strolling through our team to slot home, silly celebration time again. 3-2. It was time to kick the pumas into gear and a few rousing instruction from defensive hardman Mitch was enough to get the pumas going, he seemed to win every 50/50 ball from then until the end of the game. Then came an equaliser of pure class, with the ball being cleared from the winsford penalty area, bradley ran onto the loose ball from all of 20 yards to smash the ball into the roof of the net, in the words of Andy Gray, take a bow son, take a bow! 3-3.
Egerton now smelt blood and went straight for the jugular, firstly with jack shooting just wide, the look on his face suggested it was closer than we thought. Then the same player hit the post with a rasping drive, the ball rebounding to Stan only for him to see his shot also richocet of the post out to safety. Ben fancied his chances of adding to his tally and showed good strength before shooting just wide. A goal was surely coming and it did when man of the match Bradley beat two men on the right wing to whip a ball into the box for Jack to smash in off the post 4-3. Winsford heads we down, the badge kissing celebrations seeming a million miles away from where they were now. It got worst for them as a mistake by their goalkeeper saw him miss kick a set piece straight to Jack who unwrapped this unexpected gift by slotting home for his hatrick 5-3. There was one last chance for Winsford but Matt saved brilliantly. This was the pumas day and if all they were to walk away from this game knowing was that you shouldn't celebrate early goals like last minute winners i'm sure the manager will be happy. FT 5-3


Egerton Panthers 2-0 Winsford Diamonds

With midfield maestro Ed Franklin missing from the starting line up, due to a virus caught from facebook, the panthers started slowly and could not find their rythm early on. Winsford tried to take advantage of this and an early effort struck the bar. A rash tackle from Isaac a few moments later saw the referee rightly award a penalty, however the taker struck the spot kick against the bar, maybe third time lucky? This was something the panthers were keen to avoid and a re-shuffle of positions saw Ben Has move back into defense and Leo into centre midfield to try and break up the winsford play and get the ball moving. Ben was immediatly called into action and a well timed header saw him clear a cross over the bar.
The midfield was now beginning to tick with Leo making a nuisance of himself, almost playing Ollie in with a fine through ball. The egerton pressure finally paid off when a sidewards pass by Leo set up Alex to run onto and curl a precision effort into the bottom corner. 1-0 HT

The second half started brightly for the Panthers with the midfield beginning to dominate, a good corner by Leo was almost pocked home by Isaac, but the ball skipped off the surface and out into touch. The game then became a battle of the midfield with both teams cancelling each other out for the majority of the game. Although his dad described second half stand in goalkeeper Ollie as not being a goalie, the two saves he pulled off in quick sucession may have changed his mind.

The uphill slope was stopping pacy winger Luke from making his telling runs and the minor amount of attacking by winsford in the second half gave Tom very little to do, however some neat interceptions and clearances kept the pressure off Ollie.

Winsford were now tiring and when a strong shoulder charge on Leo seemed to make the challenger fall over rather than our number 14, Leo fed the ball up to Andy who's turn and shot in the box was stopped by what looked like a tackle worthy of a penalty, the referee waved play on when the ball fall to the feet of Isaac, who composed himself and slotted home to make it 2-0.

With a full strength midfield the score could have been more, but after this gruelling match, the pumas will be happy to walk away with the win FT 2-0.