Albert Steele Game 5

Egerton Panthers 1-1 Sandbach Utd

Buckley Fires Panthers into Quarter Finals

The Panthers new before kick off that avoiding defeat would see them through to the knock out stages, the pre match talk all about enjoying yourself aimed at easing the pressure, but when the whistle went for the start of the game, both teams seemed nervous, if anything Sandbach were on top. Simple balls were being miss controlled and possession was given away too easily.
As the half continued the panthers began to find their feet, a cross field ball by Leo picked out Luke in space who sprinted towards the goal, the parents and managers willing the ball to hit the back of the net, however quick tracking back and a cut inside too many resulted in the attack coming to nothing. Sandbach had thier share of possession, testing Ben and Andy at the back, who considering the pressure were dealing really well. Mitch was playing a blinder in net, keeping hold of any shots, talking to his defenders and distributing the ball quickly when necessary. The midfield definitely had their work cut out with both teams refusing to give an inch. Ollie was chasing everything down up front even charging back into his own half to make a tackling before giving out a roar of "come on" to get the team going. The latter stages of the first half saw the Panthers come into their own, however with so much at stake, very little was created in the way of chances. HT 0-0.

The second half seemed to spark the parents and players into life, the clock was ticking down and they desperately wanted to be in the next round and almost started perfectly when Luke found himself in space and smashed a shot goalwards only for it to fly narrowly wide, then the unthinkable then happened. The ball broke to a Sandbach midfielder whose combination of chest then hand controlling the ball went unpunished, he then played a thru ball between our defenders for their striker to run onto and slot under the on rushing Mitch. 0-1. The look of surprise on our parents faces said it all, but following the "Respect" campaign the referee was left to get on with his job. The panthers could have let their heads drop, but they didn't. A change of personnel saw Luke replaced by Adam down the left whose injection of pace seemed to spark the Panthers back to life. Leo was unlucky a few minutes later when his angled effort hit the corner of post and bar which saw the ball cannon off out of play. With the clock ticking down the Panthers had to go for it and Alex was brought on as an extra striker, leaving Ben at the back on his own, it was now all or nothing. With 5 minutes left on the clock a quick thinking throw by Adam saw the ball loop over the Sandbach defence into the path of Leo, who somehow managed to swing his right foot at the ball, the game seemed to turn to slow motion as the keeper dived to his right, defenders blocking the view of where the ball was heading until the corner of the net bulged!!! Cue the mad scenes of celebration, all the Panthers running and jumping on the goal scorer, most notably Mitch who ran the length of the pitch to celebrate with the rest of the team, parents and coaching staff equally pleased. 1-1. Now all we had to do was see out the last 4 minutes, captain Ed took up defensive duties as the Panthers reverted back to two defenders. The lads then threw themselves at everything, winning headers/tackles anything to ensure they went through. When the final whistle blew the subs and Pumas steamed onto the pitch and a huge roar went up as the lads celebrated. They had proved they could go behind and come back, showed a never say die attitude in the tensest of occasions and when asked at the end of the game how it felt to score the goal to send your team through to the knock out stages, Leo simply replied "best day of my life" which i think echoed the feeling throughout the squad. FT 1-1. See you all in the quarters.
Team: Mitch-Andy-Ben Has-Luke-Ed-Leo-Ollie-Alex-Adam-Oliver.