Post by aine montague on Dec 26, 2009 20:31:05 GMT
The cougars braved the cold in their latest encounter with Chertsey boys and quickly adapted to the tricky icy conditions . In the opening minutes Joshua , Tom , Hugo and Liam all were given opportunities to strike the first blow after good approach work from Fabio and Alex. Chertsey were finding it difficult to gain a foothold in the game as the Cougars continued to dominate proceedings.
The Chertsey keeper must of thought he had been beaten when his long kick came back to him with interest after Liam controlled instantly in midfield and let fly with a whistling left foot volley that took a lick of paint off his right hand upright .
The cougars pressure continued and corners from Tom and Liam although well struck were defended well and cleared up-field. This allowed Chertsey to spring a surprise attack and gave them a great opportunity to score against the run of play.. But they were denied the lead when Emilio pulled off an outstanding save. He firstly closed the angle when the chertsey forward was bearing down on his goal , then stayed upright and bravely dived to his left with precision timing to smother the powerful goal bound shot . The ball then rebounded back to the Chertsey striker who unleashed a second effort, but Joshua was on hand to finish the defensive work when he blocked the follow up and clear the danger .
It wasn’t long before The cougars were back in Chertsey territory.. Fabio won the ball cleanly on half way and slid a lovely through ball that led to Hugo turning the Chertsey defence and winning a corner.. Liam took it short to Tom who made a better angle for himself and from the edge of the box smashed a shot toward the near post which the Chertsey keeper did well to keep out. Liam then hit a post with his low drive, and Tom again was prominent when his dangerous cross had the Chertsey keeper scrambling across his area and had to pounce on the loose ball under extreme pressure from Joshua .
Then the move of the game- Tom worked hard to win the ball in the left back position and produced a dazzling step over then passed down the line to Fabio who then controlled well made ground and hit a raking 30 yard ball to Liam who first time fed Hugo. He drew the last defender and slid an inch perfect pass into Joshua’s path whose low drive went agonisingly wide of the right hand post.
The Cougars continued to probe for the opener, but Chertsey remained resilient and occasionally attacked themselves with purpose. And only good handling from Emilio and defensive work from Fabio and Alex prevented Chertsey from making their own mark on the game just before half time.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with the Cougars looking the more likely, and the deadlock was indeed broken when the sharp thinking Alex took a quick throw-in on Halfway which released Fabio down the right . He then nipped the ball past the Chertsey defender and fired in a low stinging cross-shot that the keeper couldn’t hold , but Joshua showed great willing to support the attack and was on hand to smash in from close range and sent the Cougars into a deserved lead,
The second goal quickly followed. Fabio won the ball in midfield and played a through ball to Liam who when poised to shoot was tackled by a back tracking defender, and in his bid to clear only managed to fire past his own goal keeper and into the corner of the net ..
Fabio was again instrumental and broke through leaving 3 Chertsey defenders in his wake, he then entered the Box and unleashed a right foot shot that the Chertsey keeper again did well to tip around the post.
The resulting corner was taken quickly and lead to a spell of last ditch defending that saw further efforts from Tom Hugo and Alex that were either saved or blocked and a pile driver from Liam that rattled the Chertsey Cross-bar .
Although 2 down the plucky Chertsey team showed great spirit and actually finished the stronger and only further saves from the immaculate Emilio in the cougars goal and a fantastic goal line block from Liam in the last minute preserved their clean sheet- but when all considered it was another impressive display and win from the Cougars
Man of the Match - Emilio Fantocchio
The Chertsey keeper must of thought he had been beaten when his long kick came back to him with interest after Liam controlled instantly in midfield and let fly with a whistling left foot volley that took a lick of paint off his right hand upright .
The cougars pressure continued and corners from Tom and Liam although well struck were defended well and cleared up-field. This allowed Chertsey to spring a surprise attack and gave them a great opportunity to score against the run of play.. But they were denied the lead when Emilio pulled off an outstanding save. He firstly closed the angle when the chertsey forward was bearing down on his goal , then stayed upright and bravely dived to his left with precision timing to smother the powerful goal bound shot . The ball then rebounded back to the Chertsey striker who unleashed a second effort, but Joshua was on hand to finish the defensive work when he blocked the follow up and clear the danger .
It wasn’t long before The cougars were back in Chertsey territory.. Fabio won the ball cleanly on half way and slid a lovely through ball that led to Hugo turning the Chertsey defence and winning a corner.. Liam took it short to Tom who made a better angle for himself and from the edge of the box smashed a shot toward the near post which the Chertsey keeper did well to keep out. Liam then hit a post with his low drive, and Tom again was prominent when his dangerous cross had the Chertsey keeper scrambling across his area and had to pounce on the loose ball under extreme pressure from Joshua .
Then the move of the game- Tom worked hard to win the ball in the left back position and produced a dazzling step over then passed down the line to Fabio who then controlled well made ground and hit a raking 30 yard ball to Liam who first time fed Hugo. He drew the last defender and slid an inch perfect pass into Joshua’s path whose low drive went agonisingly wide of the right hand post.
The Cougars continued to probe for the opener, but Chertsey remained resilient and occasionally attacked themselves with purpose. And only good handling from Emilio and defensive work from Fabio and Alex prevented Chertsey from making their own mark on the game just before half time.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with the Cougars looking the more likely, and the deadlock was indeed broken when the sharp thinking Alex took a quick throw-in on Halfway which released Fabio down the right . He then nipped the ball past the Chertsey defender and fired in a low stinging cross-shot that the keeper couldn’t hold , but Joshua showed great willing to support the attack and was on hand to smash in from close range and sent the Cougars into a deserved lead,
The second goal quickly followed. Fabio won the ball in midfield and played a through ball to Liam who when poised to shoot was tackled by a back tracking defender, and in his bid to clear only managed to fire past his own goal keeper and into the corner of the net ..
Fabio was again instrumental and broke through leaving 3 Chertsey defenders in his wake, he then entered the Box and unleashed a right foot shot that the Chertsey keeper again did well to tip around the post.
The resulting corner was taken quickly and lead to a spell of last ditch defending that saw further efforts from Tom Hugo and Alex that were either saved or blocked and a pile driver from Liam that rattled the Chertsey Cross-bar .
Although 2 down the plucky Chertsey team showed great spirit and actually finished the stronger and only further saves from the immaculate Emilio in the cougars goal and a fantastic goal line block from Liam in the last minute preserved their clean sheet- but when all considered it was another impressive display and win from the Cougars
Man of the Match - Emilio Fantocchio