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For the Pumas, we had Matt Wiles and Alex Powell in charge, thanks to Matt for this report …

On Saturday morning the Pumas made the short trip to Lakeside to face off against two Lakeside sides and one from Leckhampton. Originally scheduled for the previous week, these fixtures were rearranged following the postponement caused by Storm Bert.

With the Pumas on Saturday were Archie, Benny, Oliver S, Henry, Luke, Thomas and - making his Southside debut - Stanley.

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Game 1
Lakeside Whites 3-2 Southside Pumas
Oliver x2

Prior to this game, Alex and Matt encouraged the team to put into practice messages delivered at training. In particular, the coaches were looking to see plenty of positivity, with the ball being played wide from goalkeeper restarts.

The Pumas found themselves 3-0 down within 5 minutes of the game beginning, as Lakeside began with a high tempo which caught the Pumas cold. The coaches reminded the players of the pre-match message and slowly the team began to play themselves into the game. There was no time for negativity and once the players found their rhythm, the Pumas spent the rest of the game seeking to get back into the contest.

It was a classic game of two halves, with two goals from Oliver bringing Pumas back within one goal of Lakeside, but the equaliser wasn't to be and the game finished in defeat for the Pumas. The team created plenty of chances and on another day could have snatched a deserved draw.

What was especially pleasing was that even at 3-0 down early on, heads never dropped. Sleeves were rolled up and, to their immense credit, they got back into the game. Besides the two goals from Oliver, it was great to see Stanley make his debut looking like he'd been playing with the team for a long time. Luke continued to demonstrate huge strides forward with his composed defensive performance, with Thomas putting on a Paolo Maldini-style defensive masterclass, reading the play and being in the right place at the right time throughout.

Benny was his usual energetic self, with endless running and positivity enabling the game to be stretched. Henry slotted into the roles asked of him with ease and is really starting to show great composure on the ball. Lastly - but by no means least - Archie looked very much the modern-day goalkeeper, looking composed with the ball in his hands and at his feet.

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Game 2
Lakeside Red 0-4 Southside Pumas
Oliver x3, Benny

A similar pre-match message was given to the Pumas, but with emphasis on focusing on the things the team did well in the second half of the first fixture.

The team played very well throughout and ran out 4-0 winners, with a terrific team performance. The scoreline suggests that the game was one-sided, but this was far from the truth. Lakeside launched attack after attack at the Pumas and some superb defending and goalkeeping ensured the win and the clean sheet.

Oliver scored a hat-trick of well-taken goals to put the Pumas 3-0 up, with Benny scoring his first of the morning to make it 4-0. As well as getting on the scoresheet, the two goalscorers tracked back and supported the defence against a tricky opposition.

Archie built upon his performance in the first game and had to make some smart saves to keep Lakeside out. Again, Thomas played with great positional sense in defence and made things very difficult for the Lakeside attackers. Similarly, Stanley found himself in the right place at the right time more often than not, with Luke covering every blade of grass again. Henry was able to transition play between defence and attack, with some composed passing and great positional play.

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Game 3
Leckhampton Hawks 2-5 Southside Pumas
Oliver x4, Benny

In the final game of the morning, the Pumas delivered a great all-round performance as they ran out 5-2 winners.

The team fell behind to two well-taken Leckhampton goals early on, but five unanswered goals from Oliver and Benny saw them emerge triumphant. Similar to the first game of the morning, the players didn't let their heads drop. Plenty of positivity from the sidelines, as well as on the pitch, soon enabled the players to get into their stride.

What was especially pleasing is that each of the goals scored by the Pumas were team goals, with some great play down the flanks and through the middle. It was great to see positive play and the outcomes reflect the collective talent on show.

Archie once again was composed between the sticks and one of his saves led to a counter-attack, from which a goal was scored. Luke somehow found the energy to keep running non-stop. Stanley can be very pleased with his morning's work, as he slotted into the team seamlessly. Henry put in a great shift in the middle of the pitch and plenty of play went through him, as the team sought out more goals.

Thomas once again delivered a brilliant performance in defence and his high-performance level did not drop at all, even though he'd played three matches to such a high standard.

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Player of the Day.
Alex and Matt both chose Thomas for Player of the Day. Thomas clearly has a high understanding of the game and what it needs to be a successful defender and it was a pleasure to watch him play. His high standards and defensive know-how definitely rubbed off on the rest of the team. Well done Thomas - keep it up!

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For the Tigers we had Steve New in charge, with his team of Toby, Reuben, Tim, Teddy, Jackson, Jack P and Joseph. Thanks to Steve for his report.

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Game 1 - Southside Tigers 0 - 1 Prestbury Phantoms

The scoreline really doesn't justify how the game played out.. Prestbury took an early lead inside the first couple of minutes, but from then on, the Tigers controlled the game and pinned them in their own half. They couldn't handle the constant pressure from Jackson, Toby and Joseph, but we just couldn't find the back of the net.

We had 13 attempts on goal, along with corner after corner, but it just wouldn't go in!! Jackson had the opportunity to level the match with the last play of the game and tried to slot it into the bottom corner, but the ball sailed narrowly wide. An undeserved loss, but every single one of them came off the pitch with a massive smile on their face and were ready to go again.

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Game 2 - Southside Tigers 2 - 1 Leckhampton Kestrels
Goalscorers: Jackson, Reuben

We have played the Kestrels in a previous round-robin, where they beat us 3-2 in a very competitive game. This was just as competitive, with some brilliant football being played by both teams.. but we got our revenge with a 2-1 win!!

We took the lead through a well-worked goal involving Reuben and Jackson. Reuben showed his dominance in defence, by winning the ball back with a superb tackle.. he took one look up and found Jackson with a lovely through ball, which passed through three of the opposition players. Jackson used his phenomenal speed to beat the goalkeeper to the ball and slotted it into the bottom right corner.

We doubled our lead shortly after, thanks to a brilliant solo effort by Reuben.. Once again, he stopped a Leckhampton attack with a lovely timed challenge, which opened up a huge space for him to run into. He carried the ball for the length of the pitch and smashed it into the right side of the goal!

Leckhampton didn't give up and came at us with attack after attack, where they eventually found a way to get past Tim in goal. Tim made some unbelievable saves to keep them at bay, including 2 sublime diving saves to the bottom corner, that any professional goalkeeper would have been delighted with!

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Game 3 - Southside Tigers 5 - 1 Twyning Tigers
Goalscorers: Jackson, Teddy, Toby x2, Tim

The Tigers were eager to get back out there and were lined up in their positions waiting for Twyning to enter the pitch!

We took the lead after just 2 minutes through Jackson, who doubled his tally for the day. This was a special goal for me, as it was something we have been working on over the past weeks, with playing out from the back.

Joseph (GK) played the ball out wide to Tim from the goal kick, Tim turned with the ball and looked up to find Jackson in space and played a lovely through ball to him. Jackson used his pace once again to get on the end of it and slotted it home into the bottom corner. With just 2 passes, we opened up the opposition and scored... fantastic goal and it’s such a joy to see that they are taking instructions on board and putting them into their games.

It was clear to see that we were going to have the majority of the ball in this game and we doubled our lead through Teddy, who smashed the ball into the corner following another through ball by Tim. The shots on goal kept adding up and it was from their goal-kick that we made it 3-0. Toby picked up the ball on the halfway line and only had one thing in mind.. to go alone! He skipped past 2 of the Twyning defenders with some brilliant skills and curled one into the top corner.

Toby went on to score his second, with Reuben doing what he does best, winning the ball back in defence and playing a through ball through the heart of the Twyning defence. With the score 4-0, Twyning added another player to the pitch to try and put a stop to our attacks.

Twyning managed to get a goal back through an advantage decision. Tim put a hard challenge on one of their defenders who went down and was clearly in pain.. most of our team stopped and didn't play to the whistle and Twyning went on to squeeze it past Joseph in goal.

We continued with a burst of shots at goal leading to a corner. Toby took a quick short corner to Tim, who lined up a ferocious strike and found the top far corner to round off a fantastic display all round.

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I am so proud of them all! The progress they have all made in such a short amount of time is remarkable and I am certain they will all go on to be excellent footballers.

Our Player of the Day went to Joseph, who showed an excellent display of workrate throughout the three games. His defensive display was sensational, with some last-ditch tackles to stop the other teams’ attacks and he commanded his area when he went in goal for the last game. Well done Joseph and well done to everyone.

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Well done to both the Pumas & Tigers, sounds like they were both on top form. Well done too to all our other teams, who enjoyed a morning of in-house football at Bournside, which was lots of fun for everyone.