Penrith Blues 1 Cockermouth 5 ( 4/12/11) under tens

Team: Emily Carruthers, Adam Ashfield, Alex Parr, Luke Harrison, Harry Richardson, Peter Rawlinson, Max Cochrane, Zack Bancroft, Evan Brelsford.

Great game and well done to all players who braved the snow, sleet, hail, wind and rain! Cockermouth went into an early lead when Harry finished a great run down the left with a cross for Max to arive late into trhe box and sidefoot home his first goal this season.

The second goal quickly followed when Evan picked the ball up on the left and wriggled through the Penrith defence before blasting the ball past the goalkeeper. Adam had a great game starting from right-back with one fantastic weaving run ending with a powerful shot which just flew wide of the post. Peter also had a great effort that went just wide after some neat footwork.

Alex had a great game again at the centre of defence, making some solid tackles and timely interceptions to keep the home side away. He was backed up by Luke at left back who also showed a fearless appetite for tackling, also matched by Zack who loves to tackle and showed great concentration in the bitter cold weather.

Max Cochrane played fantastically in midfield, showing a great awareness of when to keep the ball and when to pass - always keeping possesion of the ball or winning a throw-in for the visitors.

Coming in at half time two-nil up the Cockermouth teamtalk was very short  to get the game underway again as the cold started to bite, Cockermouth stretched their lead to three nil when Evan held off a defenders challenge and squeezed a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.

Penrith bravely fought back and pulled a deserved goal back with a spectacular long range effort into the Cockermouth goal. Emily was determined not to be beaten again and made a string of fine saves, with one spectacular punching save from another longe range effort.

With Alex, Zack and Peter now in defence Cockermouth managed to keep out the home team before a great break away down the left led to Luke firing a rocket of a shot into the net after he stormed into the penalty area, also his first goal for Cockermouth.

Max deserved another goal and was unlucky after bursting past a defender and dribbling around the keeper, only to find the angle to narrow to get the ball back across into the goal.

Evan finished the scoring when he controlled the ball outside the area and placed a long shot into the bottom corner of the net to complete his hat-trick.

Great team effort in terrible conditions, just showing that the team is improving every week from playing regular matches. I can see a lot of thermals and waterproofs being bought this week as winter finally sets in!