Ferndale Youth Panthers U12 1 V 9 Warndon Villages Sharks U12's

Sharks Squad:-
Harry Stanley, Ben Jones , Joseph Kealey, Liam Dayus , James Ridge, James Stevens, 
Matt Sowden, Jack Rule, Callum Parker, Jai Gilchrist, Kieran Burns , Sam Langston, Jordan Slade, Andrew Murphy, Connor Thomasson , James Wood


 Panthers Den holds no fears for Sharks

Goal Scorers :-  1 Sam Langston , 2 Kieran Burns , 3 Matt Sowden , 3 James Ridge

The Sharks produced a high tempo first half display which pushed the Panthers onto the back foot right from the start.

The Sharks took an early lead when a right wing move produced a good shot form James Ridge. Sam Langston was on hand to pick up the loose pieces and open the scoring. Matt Sowden then doubled the lead when he reacted first to a deflected corner and stroked the ball into the net. James Ridge and James Wood both had golden chances to increase the lead but both missed open goals when they had rounded the goal keeper. Jai Gilchrist was keeping the Panthers defenders occupied and this seemed to give more space for James Ridge who was causing mayhem in the Panthers rearguard.

But the Sharks pressure did pay off with further goals from James Ridge 2 , Matt Sowden and Kieran Burns giving the Sharks a 6-0 lead after 25 minutes. Evident in the first half was the use of the ball in the midfield with Kieran Burns spreading the play well and Liam Dayus finding some good through passes the Sharks were looking threatening all the time. The defence looked secure with Connor Thomasson as sweeper and Jack Rule and Jordan Slade the full backs dealing with any threat posed. Harry Stanley did have to make a couple of saves late on in the first half as the Panthers quick front 2 occasionally posed a threat on the Sharks goal.

Half time was reached and a good performance should have been enhanced with at least another 4-5 goals. Four changes were made at half time with JJ Kealey , Ben Jones ,

The 2^nd half started with James Ridge completing his hat trick with a good finish. But 3 further chances were spurned soon after wards. Twice James Ridge just curled his shot wide of the far post and Andrew Murphy miss hit his shot from close range. The Sharks then conceded a very sloppy goal when a long ball over the top looked to be covered by JJ Kealey. JJ was waiting for a call from Harry Stanley but by the time Harry had decided what he wanted the Panthers striker nipped in between the 2 Sharks players and knocked the ball round the keeper into an empty net. This goal encouraged the Panthers players and supporters and for the next 10 minutes they upped their effort and had a couple of further efforts on goal. But the Sharks despite not playing as well still created further good chances and only poor finishing stopped them from increasing the lead further. After 20 minutes had gone in the 2^nd half the Sharks did eventually increase the lead when a pass by Liam Dayus was picked up by Kieran Burns. He used his strength to brush off 2 players and hit a shot into the roof of the net. The Sharks finished off the scoring late on when Matt Sowden picked up the ball on the left wing cut into the box he then checked back onto his right foot and hit an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to make it 9-1.

The game soon finished but the Sharks know they must improve their finishing against the teams in the top half of the table if they are going to win the league for the 4^th season running.