Fitness and a first-half tongue-lashing helped the No. 5 Neosho County Panthers take care of the Pratt Beavers, 3-1, in KJCCC action on Saturday afternoon.
Pratt drew first blood in the match, netting an unassisted goal from Tayo Adedoja five minutes in.
During a water break midway through the first half, with the Panthers trailing 1-nil, Neosho County head coach Elliot Chadderton ripped into his club.
“I thought in the first 20 minutes, where it’s always a battle, we weren’t up for it. We were lethargic and slow,” Chadderton said. “We didn’t have people leading the team out there with actions or voices. We went into our shells a little bit. Sometimes mistakes cost you goals. But we didn’t react in a way a good team was capable of reacting.”
Four minutes later, Bailey Mapletoft provided the Panthers’ equalizer.
Neosho County then scored two goals in the second half — a penalty kick from Callum Niven and a strike from Keane Hazeldine — to lock the win.
“That’s why I put a lot of emphasis on doing so much work in the summer and becoming fit,” Chadderton said. “I know how important that is on a hot Saturday in Kansas. When it comes to making subs, typically the level may not stay the same. I know if we can push their best players off the field, we can dominate teams a lot more. That’s why we play at 3:30 and not 7:30. We can use that to our advantage.”
Neosho County, while unbeaten, has struggled early in matches at times this year.
“When you’ve built up the reputation we’ve built up, everyone is going to come out fighting in the first 20 minutes,” Chadderton said. “We have to get through that and then build up. Mistakes happen and that’s a part of football. But it’s about how we react. When teams come out and want to start strong, then we gift them a goal, they’ll have a spring in their step to continue that fight.”
Yuki Suzuki, a Japanese native and defender, shined in the win over Pratt with excellent distribution. Suzuki has proven to be a valuable weapon for the Panthers.
“He’s one of our top players that can do a little bit of everything,” Chadderton said. “He came in as a right back and when we saw his technical ability, we saw what he could do in pushing the ball up. The college game here is way different than the game in Japan and it takes time to adjust. But from Day 1, he’s stepped up. He’s learning a new language and getting involved in our environment. He’s found the balance of using his technical ability while improving our game as a team.”
Up next
No. 5 Neosho County, now 4-0-2 on the year, faces No. 9 Johnson County in Chanute on Wednesday.
“Johnson is always going to be a good team that puts up a challenge against us,” Chadderton said. “They play a very different style with a lot of American guys. I’ve watched them a couple of times this year and they’ve got some dangerous players. But I think we have ways to expose them. I’m excited for it. One of the reasons I made the schedule this way is to have us grow from hard games. This is another tough fixture. But if we apply ourselves properly, the results should take care of themselves.”
