Hugh Sexey - Somerset Champions!

Hugh Sexey U13s Football Final

Hugh Sexey 5 - 3 Wellsway

An end to end game of positive attacking football finished with Hugh Sexey being crowned this years Somerset Champions. Wellsway, based in Keynsham, arrived at Bridgwater College as an unknown quantity for us. We had not played a fixture against them in some time and most of their players were unknown to ours. However strong results against Gordano and Bakewell was evidence that they were going to be a quality outfit. The first 5 minutes proved as much with Wellsway moving the ball well and using their fullback to stretch our defence. With Kenny in determined mood we managed to win back possession and when we had it we demonstrated that we could also play the ball quickly and effectively. The 4G surface meant the ball moved around somewhat quicker than we were used to but we handled this well and in the opening 20 sent Ben through on goal a number of times. Chances went begging early on with Ben smashing the wood work on 3 occasions and shots being parried across the 6 yard box with no player available to tap home. Full backs Olly and George both had solid starts and were able to help pin the Wellsway fullback into their half. Oscar looked like he had never been away and his presence in midfield helped bring calm and assurance and allowed us to play out through the back. That said, a lot of our best chances came when we played very direct through the middle. After good work by Sam, Kenny played a ball through the middle to Ben after Jacob and Luc helped pull the full backs away from the centre halves. With a better angle Ben was clinical and put us ahead 1 - 0 with 5 minutes until half time. Wellsway continued to push and with their 9, 6 and 2 settling into the game they were able to work quick shapes and create scoring opportunities. As always Harvey was a commanding figure at centre half and his ability to play the ball out meant that we were able to hold onto possession until half time.

At half time the message from the players was to retain possession of the ball and keep heads up as Wellsway had to push for a scoring opportunity. After an excellent ball from Sam, Ben raced through again to put us 2 - 0 up early into the second half. Hugh Sexey really started to find a rhythm at this stage and some of the inter play between the front three of Luc, Jacob and Ben was a sight to behold at times. TJ and Harvey were first to react as Wellsway desperately tried to find an opening and it looked as if we were on for a commanding victory. We weren't. Wellsway converted a penalty after a mix up in the box and then scored soon after when their 6 found himself unmarked after a neat far post cut back. The momentum looked like it may be about to slip and all of a sudden Wellsway showed why they were a force to be reckoned with. Credit to Hugh Sexey they kept their composure and some last ditch defending and solid work from Thomas in goal prevented Wellsway from taking the lead. Thankfully we scored again after a timely intervention from Olly was quickly moved through the midfield trio of Sam, Kenny and Oscar and worked to Ben to complete his hat trick. With 10 minutes remaining Wellsway made one last push with their number 9 finishing beautifully after excellent interplay. With the threat of extra time and penalties on the horizon tension was at its highest point. I didn't wish to see any side win/lose on penalties but conversely after we had done so well I did consider that it was possible that Wellsway may take the lead for the first time and snatch the win at the death. Thankfully the players had other ideas. The ball was again worked to Luc, who put in a fantastic performance all game, and he whipped it across to Ben. With the game in the balance he showed nerves of steel to hammer home and put Hugh Sexey 4-3 up. We then immediately won the ball back from kick off and worked the ball to Jacob who was impended in the box allowing Ben to convert for a 5-3 win.

It was a fantastic match and one that was enjoyed by all the supporters. Many thanks to Wellsway for their part in a great contest and thanks to Bridgwater for hosting us.