Southill vs St Augustine’s
After school today, a group of children from years 3 and 4 were feeling very excited as they travelled over to St Augustine’s for a friendly football match. The children had never played together before and so it was difficult to know what to expect from the team. After a swift team talk, the players walked onto the pitch ready for action…
The game began in terrific fashion. After just a few minutes, Southill were already finding their rhythm, passing and moving the ball on the floor with real confidence. A ball out wide from Jacob landed at Noah’s feet and after a bit of clever footwork and a burst of speed, he managed to cross the ball into the box where Max was waiting for a tap-in at the back post. Not long after that, Noah’s quick reactions saw him reach the ball from a St Augustine’s throw-in and he calmly slotted it past the stranded keeper. 2-0 in the opening moments!
St Augustine’s began to grow slowly into the game, however Freddie, Gurraag, Ellis and Ronnie were impeccable at the back. They calmly kept winning the ball back and playing passes through the lines and into our midfield. After we made a few substitutions, St Augustine’s capitalised as Southill tried to adjust to the changes with a great goal into the bottom right hand corner of the net. This however made Southill even more determined. Some outstanding build-up play between Max and Noah led to a through ball out wide. Jacob’s excellent ball in fell to the feet of Filip who blasted his effort into the roof of the net. Southill once again had their 2-goal cushion. Both Toby and Reggie played their part in keeping the score that way in the final 10 minutes of the first half meaning that the half-time score was Southill 3-1 St Augustine’s.
After a quick drink, the team were told not to lapse in concentration and continue to communicate and work hard for each other. We could not have wished for a better start to the second half. An outstanding ball from Gurraag eventually fell to the feet of Noah who clearly had his shooting boots on. He finished with real composure giving the goalkeeper no chance. In the second half, Maxwell was running up and down the right hand side with real determination. His hard work eventually paid off. A through ball from Ellis allowed Maxwell to drive down the line and cross into the box. A mix-up at the back led to Noah scoring his hat-trick!
We then made a few substitutions, allowing children to play in different positions. A ball up the pitch from Ronnie fell to Noah who played a lovely ball into Jacob and he tapped the ball into the bottom corner. In the final few moments, a clever pass from Filip landed to Jacob who showed quick feet and managed to gain a yard on the defender. He then slotted the ball calmly into the bottom left corner.
Final score…
St Augustine’s 1 – 7 Southill
The game made me feel incredibly excited for the future. A team that had never played together before gelled so quickly and played with real maturity and confidence. They were a joy to watch and I am sure all of the spectators who kindly came to watch the match would certainly agree! A huge thank you to everybody who helped transport the children, thank you to St Augustine’s for hosting and a huge thank you to the children for putting on such a stunning performance.
Tom
