Last night, the Year 8 boys were in action against John Spence in the opening round of the County Cup. In a night under the HMS floodlights with the rain coming down it was sure to be an interesting game of football. The team lined up with a few changes from our last outing and the dancing feet of Hugo got HMS off to a good start with a good spell of pressure in the opposition half. Magnus was his usual lively self down the right hand side and combined brilliantly with CJ to create the first chance of the game, which Hugo put narrowly wide.
There was a big shake up in the HMS defence prior to kick off but the back four of CJ, Freddie, Harrison and Noah was incredible. They dealt with a series of long balls with conviction and Harrison and Freddie were first to all of the loose balls early on in a very tight game. The deadlock was broken though after a little bit of McDonough magic. A neat through ball from Freddie found Alex 30 yards out from goal who then danced past one, two and then a third followed by a thunderbolt into the top corner! The captain got us rolling!
Thomas kept the ball moving well in the middle wearing the number 8 shirt ensuring the pitch was stretched as wide as possible. Ollie who stepped into the team led the line impeccably and his hold up play saw the ever-impressive Theo rattle a strike just wide. A few changes before the break saw James enter the fray, who was instantly busy in the middle making a string of great tackles. William and Adam also came onto the pitch and combined brilliantly with a neat one-two to almost slide Ollie through but for some great John Spence defending.Despite all of the pressure it remained 1-0 and just before the break a sensational ball over the top of the HMS defence saw John Spence hunting down the equaliser and if it was not for the quick reactions of David in goal it could well have been level at the break.
1.0 at half time.
After the break John Spence pressed high forcing Harrison and Noah into some great last ditch blocks. CJ (who was brilliant all through the first half with his forward passes) almost found the onrushing Theo with a ball over the top which led to an HMS corner. Hugo whipped in a very tempting ball when at the second attempt Alex smashed in his and HMS’ second of the night.
The HMS left hand side was a great outlet all day and Theo clipped in a lovely ball to find a flying Adam at the back stick who headed wide. Great feet from James in the middle found Thomas whose cross just evaded Theo and ended up hitting the upright! A brilliant solo run found William whose pass was weighted to perfection but a diving save from the goalkeeper denied Theo a third for HMS.
The third goal did come late on however when Ollie rifled another goal in (his tally keeps growing this year). The best was yet to come though. Alex, hungry for his hat-trick, picked the ball up on the edge of the centre circle and drove into the heart of the defence and, with a Messi-esque turn, spun into the 6 yard box to then slot home his third of the night and HMS’ fourth.
A truly enjoyable game all round. Huge thanks to all of the parents who came along to watch and help out!
- Final score: 4-0 (Alex x3, Ollie)
- HMS man of the match: Alex
- Opponent’s man of the match: Theo and Noah
