South Rushden Pumas v South Rushden Panthers – 03.10.09

A windy morning was a sign of things to come as the winter approaches and less crowd friendly weather starts to appear, time to start remembering the flask…

The Pumas were up against the Panthers, the second derby game in two weeks. Riley performed his captains’ duties and the game got underway, with the Pumas straight on the attack winning a corner that put the Panthers under pressure.

Josh was working hard up front and looking for a killer pass, and Callum was looking solid in defence – the Panthers looked worried! The pressure paid off when Riley smashed the ball home into the roof of the net, a great finish!

This seemed to spark the Panthers into life and they began working harder, and winning the midfield battle. However the Pumas kept them at bay with some good defending.

Towards the end of the half the Panthers won a corner. Somehow the ball wriggled right through the defence and Brett's goalkeeping gloves, ending up in the net for a fortuitous goal!

This seemed to be a bitter blow to the Pumas confidence and they seemed timid and unsure for the first time this season. The Panthers took full advantage and scored again, and if had not been for Brett they could have had more. To top it all off the Pumas goal felt a gust of wind and fell over, leaving coaches to find more pegs and prop it up – just like at Wembley I am sure!

The second half started with yet more controversy, as the Panthers attacked and the ball seemed to be cleared off the line – or was it? The Panthers coach asked the Pumas spectators for an honest opinion – NO GOAL was the cry!

After much discussion the referee gave a goal kick and the game restarted. It was a scrappy second half with Panthers always looking more likely to score, but Pumas still playing good football and working hard as a team.

Another goal came for the Panthers, but some late pressure from the Pumas saw a good run and shot from Brett, and for the second week running Riley had a free kick that came back off the crossbar – Third time lucky I’m sure!

The match ended and all the players congratulated each other on good performances all round, Next week its Higham Colts – and definitely time to remember the flask…

Report by Ian Hopper