They weren’t pretty goals, but they were enough to give the Cochrane Cobras boys soccer team a 2-0 victory over the Bert Church Chargers in Cochrane May 10.
“I think it went well,” said Cobras head coach Carolyn McLeod.
“The second half was better. In the first, we were playing against the wind, so that was a bit tough. The conditions were rough and a bit chilly.”
Bert Church controlled most of the play for the first half of the game, but the Cobras struck first.
A Bert Church defender deflected the ball into his own net after attempting to break up a passing play between brothers Jake and Ben Farris.
The Cobras dominated the second half and had several of their best chances fly wide of the net thanks to the gusting wind.
Logan Parker gave the Cobras the go-ahead goal on an easy tap-in after the ball deflected off four other players in front of the net.
Parker almost added his second of the game after the ball again bounced off two Chargers and landed in front of Parker, but the Bert Church keeper punched his shot out of play.
“You could tell it was going to go in,” McLeod said.
“It was one of our rookies, so we’re pretty proud of him.”
Parker is one of several rookies in the club this season and while McLeod said that the new players have given the team a different look, they’ve been contributing factors in the first two games.
“We’ve got a couple of guys who haven’t played much soccer, but they’re coming on strong. They have great heart and lots of enthusiasm and motivation. The boys are still getting used to each other, their positions and who’s going where. We’re still trying to work on a few things, but they started connecting with each other better.”
While the Cobras are looking for familiarity, the Chargers are looking for a goal.
They’ve been outscored 4-0 in the first two games of the season.
“We’re struggling to put one in the back of the net right now, and it’s killing us,” said Chargers assistant coach Fraser Hunter.
“We started off strong,” said Chargers Head Coach Fraser Hunter.
“We were playing really great in the first half. Then, we got an unlucky goal against us, and it deflated us. We lost our shape, which led to the second goal, and we never really recovered from it.”
Both Cochrane and Bert Church were in action May 14. The Cobras visited the George McDougall Mustangs while the Chargers visited the Chestermere Lakers.
Results were not available at press time.
