Year 8A Boys v St Michaels        Mr Harris

Date: Friday 21st April 2023

Result: Won 5 – 4 on penalties (3 – 3 end of normal time).

Scorers: K. Gibson, H. McManus, N. Walters

Squad: N. Walters, S. Ardeleanu, J. Hiett, F. Fowler, H. Wills, J. Cunningham, L. Bird, K. Gibson, N. Konopka, H. Neal, H. McManus, L. Avci.

Commended performances: All

Comment: Friday afternoon, we travelled the short distance to Queens School, the venue for our County Plate Final vs St Michaels. Both teams were keen to make a good start in this game, which meant for a cagey affair in the opening 20 minutes of the game. Both teams did not create many chances with our best chances coming from overlapping runs by K. Gibson on the right hand side of the pitch. We had a few shots early on, with H. McManus hitting the post. It wasn’t until closer to half time we took a bit of a foothold on the game and started creating more and our patience and perseverance paid off with K. Gibson was played in on the right hand side of the box, cutting a shot across the goalkeeper, perfectly hitting the post and head into the net. 1 – 0 to Bushey Meads, through a lovely worked goal from left to right and a tidy finish in the end. We set up after the goal and lasted about 2 minutes before letting the centre midfielder from St Michaels receive the cross in the box, shooting at our goal where J. Hiett made an excellent save, unfortunately the St Michael’s player pounced on the loose ball and hit the rebound home. 1 – 1, through a sloppy piece of marking. We came in at half time 1 – 1, feeling slightly deflated after we let our lead go so quickly. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving into the second half, it started similarly to the first, scrappy teams struggling to look after the ball on the big expansive pitch. We continued to try and carve some chances out for ourselves as the game went on and after a switch in formation, we managed to score two more goals. The first was from a S. Ardeleanu corner that dropped in the box to the feet of H. McManus slotted the ball home to make it 2 – 1 to BMS. Next was N. Walters, a fantastic solo press from him forced the defence into a mistake and he managed to slot it past the onrushing keeper. We managed to maintain control of the game here at 3 – 1 after the quickfire goals, playing some passes and controlling the tempo. Late in the game St Michael’s got a corner ball, whilst they whipped into the box and the ball was slotted home by them to make the score 3 – 2, with only 5 minutes to go. We tried to maintain possession and control of the game, but in the end some tired passing and silly mistakes. The St Michael’s winger ran through on goal with S. Ardeleanu chasing. He made a challenge which was given as a penalty, with seconds to go. Unfortunately, up stepped the St Michael’s striker, who managed to hit it past an unlucky J. Hiett in goal who got his hands to it, 3 – 3.

 

 

 

 

Extra time arrived and it was only 7 minutes each way, both teams struggled to play football in this period, where they both started to look tired and not much was created. We moved onto penalties. Both teams understandably tired at this point after putting so much into the game. St Michael’s took the first penalty, we took the second. The pressure was on. Each person that stepped up gave it their best efforts with the penalty and we moved into sudden death territory. Penalty six, St Michael’s missed, K. Gibson stepped up to take penalty number 6. The whistle from the referee blew and he started his run up. Cool, calm and collected K. Gibson placed the ball into the back of the net and Bushey Meads were the County Plate Champions.

 

 

 

Thank you to St Michael’s for the excellent and fiercely contested game, finishing in the most difficult way. A great effort to all involved late into a Friday evening. The end of the football season finishing on a high with a medal. Well done to all in Year 8 for their excellent commitment and performances throughout the year.

For any parental enquiries about any aspects of PE contact the Head of PE and Health Faculty Ashley Cartledge [email protected] . For any specific issues related to Girls PE and girls fixtures contact Sarah Cooper [email protected].

@BMSPEandHealth