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Posted on November 21st 2019
Year 7 Football, South London Cup 1-1 (5-4 on penalties)
It’s been a long time coming! The Year 7 Boys picked up their first win of the season in a tight South London Cup fixture against St Michael’s College.
On a beautiful, sunny, winter afternoon HBAED got off to a flyer with a goal after five seconds. Francis received a pass from Casper, turned a defender and fired a shot from distance into the bottom corner. The early goal spurred us on and the boys in orange were well on top as Aaron went through on goal to be denied by a last ditch challenge.
St Michael’s rallied though, and after wasting a couple of good chances they found a way through with a ball over the top into the striker who took his chance well. The first half finished 1-1.
Tipped round the post
The second half followed a similar pattern, HBAED started on top with Casper moving next to Louis in defence allowing us to build out from the back and get Francis and Josh into the game. A lovely move, starting from a goal kick, released Rayane who beat a defender with a step over and smashed a shot towards the top corner that was incredibly tipped round the post.
Neither team was able to get break the deadlock in normal time, so it went down to penalties.
Penalties
Louis showed phenomenal leadership and volunteered to take the first penalty, placed it nicely into the corner but cruelly saw the St Michael’s goalkeeper pull off an outrageous save. Fortunately, Stanley made sure it didn’t matter with a good stop to keep both teams at zero after one penalty each. Casper, Francis, Aaron (just) all scored their penalties and Rayane blasted in the fifth to take it to sudden death. Josh made the long walk from halfway to the penalty spot and confidently slotted his kick to heap the pressure back onto St Michael’s. The final spot kick taker stepped up, smashed his penalty at the bottom corner but instead of seeing the bulge of the net, saw Stanley dive at full stretch to beat the ball away and send HBAED into the next round.
A great performance from the boys and a thoroughly deserved win.
Thank you to Mr May for driving the minibus and offering valuable tactical wisdom.
Mr Cooper
Man of the match
Louis marshalled his defence with authority and was able to start attacks from the back with his passing range and ability to dribble out into midfield. He also showed impressive leadership when he was the first to commiserate St Michael’s players after their penalty heartbreak.
Stepping Up
Rayane came into the team up front and was a constant threat with his direct running with the ball. Also scored the best penalty in the shootout.
Hero
Stanley the obvious hero! Two saves in the shootout to send us through to the next round.
