Heroics from All-American Callum Niven for the second match in a row hoisted the No. 5 Neosho County Panthers past No. 15 Central, 2-1, in Tuesday afternoon action. The win ended a two-draw streak for the Panthers Neosho County netted its first goal from Luke Butcher off a corner kick four minutes into the match and spent most of the match in the attacking third.
However, it wasn’t until a penalty kick from Niven in the 82nd minute that the Panthers broke a 1-1 tie.
“When we scored early, we took our foot off the gas,” Neosho County head coach Elliot Chadderton said. “We didn’t kick on. When you score an early goal, you’ve got to make two, three and the game is over. But we settled down to the opposition’s level. We’ve got to have a class about ourselves where we have a hunger to keep hunting and not give them a chance.”
Niven’s late penalty was the second match in a row he saved the Panthers. On Saturday, he scored two goals in the final 15 minutes against Allen to salvage a draw.
“That’s the player I want to be for this team,” Niven said. “I get into the right areas. We get so many opportunities late because of our fitness. Towards the end of every game, we’re picking up goals.”
Niven drew a one-on-one opportunity to induce the penalty. After booming the ball into the back of the net, his celebration was timid at best.
“I think we stole one,” Niven said. “I just gambled and the ball dropped nicely. A few of their players saw my penalty from the last game. So I knew I was going straight away. I felt like I hit it well and the keeper would’ve had a hard time no matter what.”
Neosho County put 10 shots on target and had ample set pieces near the box for goal scoring opportunities, but Central’s defense held firm.
“We’re going to get a lot of set pieces, so it comes down to a desire to win the first and second balls,” Chadderton said. “We didn’t quite get there a lot of the time. But we’re getting the ball into the right areas. When it clicks, we’ll be able to punish teams.”
Through five matches, the reigning national runners-up are 3-0-2 overall — all five matches have been against ranked teams.
“I’m happy to get the win. The last two games were quite frustrating,” Chadderton said. “When you’re ranked so high, teams will try to frustrate you and knock you off your game. So that’s where we’ve got to be more professional. We almost have to change how we play. We had success being direct last year. But now we have to adapt to see the same success. The first five games we’ve played, every single team we’ve played has been ranked. We’ve had a hard strength of schedule.”
Up next
Neosho County faces Pratt in KJCCC play on Saturday in Chanute.
“If we play the way we’re capable of playing, the opposition doesn’t matter,” Chadderton said. “We should be able to see the success we know we can get.”
