Year 9 Boys Football Team 2018-19 

After a fantastic year of football, winning the league unbeaten, the Year 9 boys played Chingford school in the  Waltham Forest Cup Final.

The football season started back in September and the team played every week up to the first half term.

The first three games saw the team play fantastically and beat Frederick Bremer 4-0, push past Holy Family 5-0 and ease through Kelmscott 4-0.

We were on to a great unbeaten start and this set the tone for the league standings.

Chingford have always been our closest rivals and we knew they would take us down to the wire.

When the season resumed after Christmas we were due to play Willowfield who can be known to be a tricky team as they are hardworking and resilient.

We played the game at Douglas Eyre on a pitch that shall we just say wasn’t great and held our own.

I won’t deny that that we were the favourites and we started very strongly.

I had set the team a target of not conceding ay goals and we were 3-0 up when Willowfield hit back with a well worked finish.

We responded and sealed the game with another goal and won comfortably 4-1!

After an extremely strong start to the season, it was only fitting that we were due to play Chingford next.

Going in to the game, we knew that they desperately needed the points as they had not lost a game either.

It was clear that the tensions were high as some of our players had friends on the opposing team and the nerves were beginning to rise.

After a good warm up and Martin’s motivational pre-game ritual, the game began.

Chingford started well and moved the ball into spaces causing us to shift shape and this created gaps. Rory Beaver had a brilliant game, not once, not twice, but three times rushing the centre forwards in a one vs one situation to save the team!

We rode the pressure and stuck to our play. The game was tight but Martin stepped up to slot home a good team move and put us ahead. We went on to score one more through Martin’s hustling of the defence and comfortably saw the game out for a 2-0 victory.

This set us up nicely to win the league and go into the Cup semi-final against local rivals Heathcote.

With high confidence and strong belief, we faced a Heathcote team who looked under strength and eased past them 4-0 to make our way to the Cup Final.

Final day…

We did not find out who our opponents were the day before the final as Willowfield played Chingford in the other semi on the Monday night.

It was inevitable that we were going to face Chingford and as far as we were concerned, the game was anybody’s.

The weather was good, parents had come down to support and we had been moved onto the 4G astro-turf pitch at Douglas Eyre. Initially I was happy but after 20 mins realised that the pitch was huge which was going to be an issue.

We went had an immense amount of pressure piled on in the first 10 mins as we acclimatised and individuals dealt with their own nerves.

Chingford scored first and this came as a harsh blow. But one thing we knew was that we are strong and we were going to get back into that game!!

We equalised 10 mins after with a nice finish from Oscar who had clearly grabbed this game by the scruff. We had a handful of very good chances to go 2 or 3 clear of our opponents after that but could not capitalise unfortunately.

It was not to be. They scored again leaving us feeling deflated and frustrated. Step up Oscar Dean! This young man decided that he was not going to let this game slip and with a lovely karate style jump and side kick, flicked the ball from a corner past the outward rushing Chingford (and England international) goal keeper to level the score and restore our hopes.

The game became a chess match as Chingford were constantly changing their formations to try and win the game. We remained strong and stuck to our plan.

Martin was put through on goal and worked very well to beat the defender and lob the goalie…the ball hit the post…bounced out to Leo…open goal…I could feel the rush of celebration already flowing but as the ball headed goal bound, a stray leg from a Chingford player deflected the ball out toward the area and it was cleared to safety. This was gut wrenching.

It was a fantastic game to watch if you were a spectator but painful for me as a coach. We were dominating the chances but the ball just did not want to go in!

Then it happened…on a break away, Chingford managed to score a third, with 12 mins to go. It was heart breaking. After all of their efforts and fight, it was slipping from our boy’s fingers.

Chingford once again dealt with a barrage of pressure but we simply could not get that goal. The game played out and we lost 3-2. The final whistle piercing our ears and our hearts after a year that by anybody’s standard was no short of AMAZING!

The team is as follows:

• Rory
• Rio
• Jeson
• Omega
• Jamie
• Elliott
• Ralph
• Kemar
• Tom
• Oscar
• Leo
• Giorgio
• Elijah
• Codey
• Callum
• And Martin our Captain

They are winners in my eyes as their passion and spirit as a team has been the best I have seen. They work hard for each other and are a credit to themselves, their families and our school.

I’m very proud of them and honestly can’t wait to see them lift that trophy next year…WHAT TIME IS IT?

Thank you for your support this year, staff and parents.