The Andalusia Bulldogs’ soccer team fell 4-3 Thursday night in a physical match against the Charles Henderson Trojans at home.

 

The Bulldogs (2-8) started off the game strong, and jumped out front 1-0 on a goal from Wain Yongkuma in the first 15 minutes.

 

“We were on top of them for the first 15 minutes,” Bulldogs’ coach Tim Ramsden said. “Then they started to get very physical. It was really beyond physical, and was just dirty. It was worse than the game we played up there three weeks ago.”

 

As the Trojans began to play physical, the Bulldogs made some mistakes on defense that put the Trojans up 4-1 at halftime.

 

“It got to the point that I told the referees at half that it was getting to dangerous out there for my players,” Ramsden said.

 

The Bulldogs weren’t going to fade away into the night, though. AHS opened up the second half with a ton of tenacity and fought its way back into the contest.

 

“That was the most up-tempo we have ever played,” Ramsden said of the Bulldogs second half start. “We played the best we have played all season, and I couldn’t be happier with the way they played. That is how we have been trying to get them to play all season.”

 

The Bulldogs got a goal from Michael Taylor in the second half to help cut into the Trojans’ lead.

 

Taylor was playing in place of Kiki Wain, who was a bit under the weather Thursday night. Taylor played well in Kiki’s absence, Ramsden said.

 

Yongkuma knocked in his second goal of the game to cut the Trojans’ lead down to one.

 

“Wain (Yongkuma) has just continued to score well for us all season,” Ramsden said. “We had a lot of chances to score in the second half, and we could have won that game. The way that these kids worked through the physical plays, and coming back like that in the second half, I couldn’t be happier.”

 

Ramsden said that goalkeeper Ben Jackson had and excellent game at the net.

 

“Ben Jackson played the best game I’ve ever seen him play,” Ramsden said. “He made some very impressive stops.”

 

Shelbee Matthews was a target of a lot of the hard hits, Ramsden said.

 

“They seemed to be going after Shelbee a lot,” Ramsden said. “She took some serious hits, but she played very well in the second half.”

 

The Bulldogs will be back on the pitch Tuesday when the Dothan Tigers come to town.

 

Then on Thursday, the Bulldogs will travel to Mobile to face UMS-Wright in the second area contest of the season.