Arlesey Town U-9 0 Melbourn Dynamos Panthers 1 A CLOSE game saw Melbourn win by a solitary goal on the first chilly Saturday of the season. The goal came midway through the first half. James Rushton broke with the ball in midfield and fed an inch

Arlesey Town U-9 0 Melbourn Dynamos Panthers 1

A CLOSE game saw Melbourn win by a solitary goal on the first chilly Saturday of the season. The goal came midway through the first half.

James Rushton broke with the ball in midfield and fed an inch perfect through ball to Ben Webb, who advanced goalwards.

The keeper saved his shot well, but Webb pounced quickly to confidently tuck away the loose ball.

An even game followed, with both teams linking well going forward, but strong defence and leadership from the back by James Fowkes ensured Panthers kept the lead.

The home side pushed hard for an equaliser, but keeper Ross Cockburn showed good command of his area and made two fine saves.

n Two goals from Charlie Weber and an own goal claimed by Jacob Rand helped put Melbourn Tigers under-nines 3-1 up against Arlesey, put a change of tactics proved disastrous as the hosts hit back to take a share of the spoils.

Fairlands Youth U-10 0 Melbourn Dynamos Panthers 0

AN entertaining game finished goalless on Sunday morning.

A fast and furiously paced match saw two evenly matched sides compose some well thought out attacks let down by a lack of finishing.

Some good balls and brave goalkeeping saw Scott McGee pull of some fine saves that denied Fairlands the goal they deserved.

Despite some well conceived moves and vision by Melbourn Matthew Goodfellow was denied with a fine strike going just wide. Connor Brand also found the wrong side of the post despite some fine runs at the fairlands defence,

Bushey Eagles U-11 3 Melbourn Dynamos Panthers 1

PANTHERS' impressive progress through the Herts County Cup ended in this fifth round tie at Bushey, with the home team eventually running out 3-1 winners in what proved to be a very entertaining contest.

Playing down the slope, Panthers had much of the possession in the opening phase of the match, and almost went 1-0 up within the first five minutes when a Byron Lawrence free kick from just outside the penalty area forced a great save from the Bushey keeper.

Bushey responded well though, and after 10 minutes won a throw-in which the Panthers failed to clear, allowing Bushey to fire in the opening goal from close range.

Melbourn lifted their game and pushed forward into the Bushey half, but were often foiled by a well organised offside trap and found it hard to break through a stubborn and tough Bushey defence.

Despite some dangerous runs by Sam Webb and Patrick Hopper and a flurry of corners just before the break, the Panthers went in at half-time still 1-0 down.

Playing up the hill in the second half the Panthers started positively, but five minutes later found themselves further behind after Bushey latched on to a half-clearance and shot home.

Some real end-to-end play followed with chances for both sides, before Byron Lawrence was brought down in the area and Nathan Henry coolly converted the penalty to pull the Panthers back to 2-1.

With the pitch deteriorating into a muddy quagmire, the Panthers defence came under increasing pressure - and despite Alex Martin keeping them in the game with a great headed clearance off the line, before Bushey finally sealed the game with a terrific long range shot.

Fairlands Youth U-10 7 Melbourn Dynamos Tigera 0

THE Tigers, already suffering from the chilly weather, were frozen out of the game after the first five minutes when Fairlands found their feet they where relentless in the pressure on the Tigers goal.

Even though both Nicholas Neild and Lawrence Oxley had shots on goal, neither found the net for Tigers to claw one back.