Under 10s League match. At the Pumas Lair, Fletton.
Sat 7th September 2013, report by Daniel’s dad.

Park Farm Pumas Reds 11 (Daniel 3, Lewis 2, Jack 2, Cian 2, Setch, +1 OG), Wittering 0

Pumas squad:
1 Ethan, 2 Setch, 3 Josh, 4 Owen, 6 Lewis, 6 Roy, 7 Daniel, 8 Cian, 9 Alessio, 12 Jack

Justin and Kevin, the Pumas’ coaches, went for a 2-3-1 look, with Jack starting in the anchor role, in front of Allessio and Roy and behind a front three of Daniel, Lewis and Cian. Justin had no doubt told the two wide- men to remember their defensive duties, but as it happened they didn’t need to worry.

The game started with a succession of corners on the right for the Pumas, with Jack delivering some excellent balls into the Wittering box. Lewis was making some great dribbles into the heart of the opposition defence to create these set pieces.

The first of many substitutions for Pumas came on 6 minutes, as Daniel made way for Setch. Unfortunately the Wittering coach did not have this luxury, as his team had to play the whole game with a player short. Despite this disadvantage and to their credit the team in the Royal Air-Force colours kept up 100% effort throughout.

Another home substitution, Josh on for Roy, preceded the opening goal. Lewis showed typically good ball control to take the ball past the away defence and fired a good shot past the keeper’s left-hand side. It’s worth noting that this was the Reds team’s first competitive goal since forming back in 2012.

A breakaway run and shot from the Wittering number 10 proved that more goals might be needed and with 15 minutes on the clock Cian duly responded with another good strike from just inside the away team’s penalty area. 2-0 to the Pumas.

Justin brought on Owen for some action, as Jack took a break. Credit should go to Justin and Kevin for keeping all the squad in the game through these frequent substitutions.
The Pumas were charging forward at will and Daniel had three decent chances to extend the lead with good runs past the Wittering defensive line.

Ethan, the Pumas keeper would have been excused for thinking about what he was having for tea, as he was not seeing much action. However he did see enough of the ball to learn that the back-pass rule still applies at under-10 level, as he was penalised for picking up Roy’s pass. The resulting free-kick however was a bit too intricate, an attempted 1-2 being easily cleared by the Pumas defence.

Another Wittering attack ended in a finely taken corner smacking into Ethan’s goal’s side-netting. Shortly after this however two more goals had doubled the lead and put the result beyond doubt. First Daniel had a tap-in, after a corner from Cian which the away keeper could only tip onto the back post area. Next Daniel showed his increasing confidence in breaking away and putting a strong shot past the Wittering number 1.
4-0 to the Pumas at half-time.

The second-half continued where the first had ended, with Jack breaking free and slotting past the keeper for 5-0. The beleaguered Wittering defenders stuck to their tasks and showed good spirit in making frequent tackles to prevent more home attacks ending in goals. Special praise should go to the Wittering goalkeeper, who pulled off some excellent stops and blocks when left one on one with the home attackers. The away team kept their shape, electing to try and keep to the game-plan, rather than recklessly throwing caution to the wind. This did however mean that their lone forward was mostly left by himself against two home defenders.

In fact the Pumas defenders were starting to get in on the act of attacking themselves, as Roy supplied Lewis for goal number 6; a clever pass between the two home number sixes resulting in a fine strike past the keeper.

More target practice for Jack and Lewis and a succession of corners ended in goal number 7, as an attempted clearance from Lewis’s corner produced an own-goal. Goal number 8 was a tap-in for Jack on the far-post from another excellent Lewis corner.

Goal 9 brought up the hat-trick for Daniel, as he broke down the inside-left and struck a sweet shot past the keeper. Setch and Daniel combined for the 10th goal, Daniel playing Setch in for a hard strike past the unprotected goalie.

Cian almost provided the goal of the game with a curling shot from the edge of the area, before Ethan (remember him?) produced possibly his only save of the game; a good block from the Wittering forward. In fact this save was the precursor for a short spell of Wittering pressure, as Ethan found it hard to get his goal-kick out to a team-mate. Alessio came to the rescue with a good covering tackle to preserve the clean sheet.

Normality was resumed as goal number 11 arrived from Cian’s boot, courtesy of a great block from the Wittering keeper after Setch shot directly at him. The dozen goals would have arrived on the stroke of full-time as the heroic away keeper was left distracted by a stray football kicked onto the pitch by a youngster. This goal appears to have been disallowed by the Alliance league. Now if this was the Premier League the Wittering coach would probably have written to the FA, asking for a rematch.

As it was one of the player’s mums pointed out that this was their team’s first match. Now, I remember those days… a great encounter, hopefully some new friends in the Wittering team and a morale boosting result for our lads - GO PUMAS!!