Hugh Sexey Church of England Middle School
Together we believe; Together we achieve
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Football - U12 ESFA Nationals round 1
Gryphon School 2
Hugh Sexey Middle School 3
What a football match this was! A truly superb and nail biting match from two very good teams in very wet and horrible conditions
Playing on Gryphon's very wet boggy pitch , Hugh Sexey's started the match brightly and kept Gryphon in their half. We put their goal keeper under a lot of pressure, and some excellent work from our midfield four - Archie Whittaker, Eric Newton, Charley Boorman, and Noah Hutchings - enabled Oliver Kemsley (his first game back following an injury) to test the home goalkeeper with some great shots. Shortly after this Gryphon scored to put them 1-0 up.
As the weather got even worse, both teams continued to play some really good football, then Noah Cook slotted the ball home after capitalising on a great pass from Kemsley, running through to level the score at 1-1.
It was Gryphon who then came back stronger for rest of the first half. Following some defending errors from us, Gryphon striker scored to put them 2-1 up.
Half time score Gryphon 2 Hugh Sexey's 1.
At half time we had a team talk which was very inspirational. We all spoke about how we could turn things around, and as a group we made some tactical changes.
All credit to Charlie Halford who moved to defence enabling us to change to 4-4-2 formation, and allowing Harry Olliff to go on the wing to use his pace to put Gryphon under pressure.
Immediately in the second half we were able to put pressure on Gryphon and it wasn't long before our 'goal machine' Noah Cook scored his second of the game, slotting the ball home from the spot after being fouled in the area. The lads were now confident, relaxed, and believed they could actually win the game and score more goals. Hugh Sexey's now dominated the game, moving the ball all over the pitch and putting Gryphon under immense pressure.The final goal came when Harry Olliff set up Noah Cook, who drove it home for his hat trick.
Wow what a game - credit to all the lads; after being 2-1 down at half time they kept their heads and believed in each other.
A special mention should go to Josh Turrell who stepped in as our goal keeper. Josh was put under immense pressure throughout the game. He played superbly in the second half, making numerous great saves to keep us in the game.
Zak Ajai-Rowan and Michal Eames were rock solid at the back during the whole game - reminding me of the Ferdinand and Vidic days at United.
