Football League Matches

Although the traditional football season is coming to an end, we managed to get our first league matches played in the first week back for both our Year 3/4 team and Year 5/6 team. Both matches were against St Oswalds and they were both highly memorable. 

First up was the Year 3 and 4 team. In the first half we were totally dominant, playing some absolutely wonderful football. Each player was a 10 out of 10 and what was most pleasing was how they were passing the ball to each other. But their keeper was in the form of his life and with over 20 shots on goal we drew a blank. St Oswalds were sitting deep and trying to hit us on the break - and it worked! It was a long ball over the top and their striker nipped in to give them a 1 - 0 lead at half time. 

The message at the break was don't panic and keep doing the same thing and goals would come; and they did! The ball was only haf cleared and with one bounce, Teddy put his fot through it and hit a screamer into the top corner! But we were only level for a short time. Another scrappy goal from St Oswalds, hitting their players back, bobbled into the goal. Then, we were thankful for a wicked Jonah corner which the keeper deflected into his own goal. 

But St Oswalds managed to take the lead again! To our team's credit, their heads didn't go down and Teddy and Blake were keeping it positive. With only 5 minutes left, we grabbed an equaliser with a shot that looped over the keeper's head.  But we didn't stop there! Ethan, from Year 3, had started to find his feet and from outside the box struck a fine shot. St Oswalds rallied and we were under intense pressure, but Rory, Henry and Teddy kept them out. But there was still time for Blake to wrap things up. He burst down the right, cut inside and battled through two players and then hit the ball hard and low into the goal. The team erupted! A thrilling 5 - 3 victory. 

Player of the match was Teddy Pickering. A proper captain's performance! He scored an incredible goal, his defending was faultless and they was he led them when falling behind 3 times was inspiring. 

No sooner had they come off the pitch, our Year 5 and 6 team then took centre stage. Noah made his debut in goal, meaning Logan could come out field. And this proved to be a game changer! From the whistle, our midfield three of Ollie-Jae, Thomas and Harley stamped their authority on the game. Harley played it in to Logan who then spun his defender and slotted it calmly home. Soon after, Logan was put through on goal again. The keeper blocked the shot, but Logan pounced on the rebound to score for a 2 - 0 lead at half time. 

Farrah played a new role at the back and she started the second just like how she played the first. Crunching in the tackle, driving forward to bring the ball out and spraying passes out to the wide players. The heat was taking it's toll on the players and we had no subs so we found ourselves sitting deeper and deeper. But then we found our second wind. After an earlier penalty claim, Logan did his talking on the pitch to claim his hat - trick. Thomas whipped in a delicious corner for Ollie-Jae to apply the finishing touch. Then, Harley finished things off, making it a 5 - 0 win. 

There were so many brilliant performances. A special mention must go to our keeper - Noah - who kept a clean sheet and made some incredible saves. But my player of the match was Farrah Popescu. What a performance! She caught the eye of every spectator. The timing of her press, never missed a tackle and her driving runs and started all our attacks.