After last week’s rain Cougars Under7s Blues welcomed a dry warm morning as they hosted Baldock Town Knights at The Bury for their first ever home league match.
Cougars were immediately on the attack and after a good passing movement involving Matthew Murphy and Hadley Anton the ball arrived with Ryan Neill at the back post, who would have scored if it were not for the Baldock Goalkeeper making a great triple saves.
The visitors started playing their way into the game and only a good one on one save from Darcey Fordham and then a goal line clearance from Anton kept the game goalless. After another great pass from Neill it was Ryan Gull’s turn to be denied by a great save from the Baldock guardian. The deadlock was finally broken by the Knights following a good tackle in the middle of the pitch which saw the ball fall kindly to the Baldock striker and with a good first time strike Cougars found themselves one nil down. Not long after the first goal a back pass was intercepted by the Baldock striker who controlled it well and scored doubling their lead. Anthony Gull then became the latest player to be denied again by the in-form Baldock keeper. Before the interval the away side’s keeper made three more saves denying Anton, Gull and Murphy, meaning Cougars went into the break trailing.
After the break Cougars were competitive, a good tackle from Gull set up an early chance for Murphy who struck his shot just wide. After changing goalkeepers at half time it was now the turn of the Cougars goalkeeper to make a string of good saves denying Baldock the chance to extend their lead further. Halfway through the second half the game changed when Fordham, with a good tackle found Neill who in turn located Hadley who knocked a long pass forward to Murphy, he knocked the ball past the last defender and with a first time shot beat the Baldock keeper at his near post for a great team goal. Just a minute later a fantastic long range shot from Anton levelled the score with Cougars now on top. The hosts kept control of the game with some excellent passing and tackling but with time running out a deflected tackle fell to a Baldock player who struck home. Cougars refused to give up and a fantastic corner from Gull nearly produced an equaliser but was not finished off. After the match Cougars Coach Ross Murphy was pleased telling BT Sports Michael Owen “We saw a really good effort from the whole team.”
