Melbourn Dynamos Panthers 1 Stevenage Borough Reds 1 (Stevenage won 3-2 on penalties) A THRILLING cup tie saw Melbourn just miss out after a penalty shoot-out. The visitors began strongly and took the lead in the second minute with a cool finis

Melbourn Dynamos Panthers 1 Stevenage Borough Reds 1

(Stevenage won 3-2 on penalties)

A THRILLING cup tie saw Melbourn just miss out after a penalty shoot-out.

The visitors began strongly and took the lead in the second minute with a cool finish to the corner.

Stevenage continued to look dangerous, breaking swiftly with close passing, and Dynamos midfield duo of Sam Bedlow and James Rushton had to dig deep to reduce the threat.

Ross Cockburn made several good saves, then Borough almost added a second as a header rattled the bar and bounced down on the line.

This acted as a wake-up call to Panthers who began getting to the ball first, with Ben Webb firing just wide before half-time.

Dynamos continued the positive note with Rushton, Webb and Bedlow linking well down the right.

Melbourn got a deserved equaliser in the dying minutes as Rushton fired a free-kick into the top corner.

Both teams gave 100 percent in extra time, but penalties resulted, with Borough coming from behind to take it 3-2.

Baldock Town U-11 Templars 4 Melbourne Dynamos Tigers 0

A WELL contested game saw the Tigers give a far more spirited display than the previous week.

The game was mainly fought in the midfield area with Captain Mathew Davis marshalling the Tigers through the wave of attacks from the Templars players.

A notable performance from Jack Hammond on the left side of midfield should have yielded more success, however the Tigers backup in this area was sparse and Hammond battled on regardless.

Despite some stout defending from Josh Jones, George Birch, Cameron Douglas and Ben Cattley the Tigers went into the break with a one goal deficit.

Half-time saw the Templars up the tempo of the game and the Tigers excellent shot stopper Jack Ovens kept the score line within reach of the Dynamos. Despite the probing runs of Clyde Thompson, Brennan Friel, Tom Lee and Adam Breeze the Templars defence could not be penetrated to any effect.

The Templars scored a further three to take their tally to four and seal the match.

Buntingford Coug Blues U-11 1 Melbourn Dynamos Panthers 1

AFTER a four week break, the Panthers looked a little short of match practice in their first encounter of 2007, against a solid and determined Buntingford side.

With the match being played at a cracking pace from the start, the Panthers had the perfect start when skipper Byron Lawrence broke free on the half way line and proceeded to race right down the left flank to the Buntingford penalty area.

His cross was deflected, but he managed to connect with the rebound to shoot through the goalkeeper's legs, putting the Panthers 1-0 up after just one minute of play.

To their credit, Buntingford managed to re-group well and replied by hitting the back of the Melbourn net after six minutes, but the Panthers well-organised defensive line had successfully sprung an offside trap and the goal was correctly disallowed.

A period of exciting end-to-end play followed, with Melbourn stringing together some nice passing moves. Sam Webb fed Craig Stalker an inch-perfect pass into the penalty area.

The resulting shot was blocked by the Buntingford keeper, and shortly afterwards Byron Lawrence and Patrick Hopper linked up nicely, with Hopper's shot being charged down by a fairly resilient home defence.

As the half progressed Buntingford started to apply more pressure, but throughout the match Melbourn's defensive quartet of Jordan Hardwidge, Nathan Henry, Billy Halliwell and Alex Martin worked the offside trap well, and Buntingford attacks were foiled a number of times.

However, shortly before half-time the home team's pressure finally paid off, with a cross from the left wing deflecting to a Buntingford striker who fired in from close range to level the scores.

The second half played out very much like the first, with good end-to-end action producing a number of great saves and clearances from Panthers' keeper Nick Thompson, and some Melbourn counter-attacks yielding a number of scoring chances, but neither team could add to the half-time scoreline.