This week the football season began for our Year 5 and 6 boys with a tournament at Moulsford Prep School. Last year, we qualified in second place before going on to win the Oxfordshire Final and compete in the South West Regional Finals, and were hoping for a similar experience this time.

Our opening match was against Fir Tree from Wallingford. A tight game ensued, with chances at both ends and solid defending from both sides. Unfortunately for us, it was Fir Tree who grabbed the only goal of the game, and we knew we would need to be more clinical in front of goal if we were to overturn a losing start.

We next faced our local rivals Goring, a match which followed a similar script to our previous one. This time however, there were no goals scored, and our first clean sheet and point of the competition gave us something to build on.

A second clean sheet would follow in our next fixture, and this time we had some goals of our own to go with it. Early in the second half, Ben drove down the left wing and rolled a low shot into the far corner to begin the scoring. Soon after, Jack finished off a lovely counter attack by drilling the ball into the opposite corner to seal a 2-0 victory. This result, combined with some favourable results elsewhere, meant that the tournament was still wide open and there was plenty to play for.

It was the penultimate fixture, however, that would end our hopes of qualifying. A 2-0 defeat at the hands of the hosts, Moulsford Prep, meant that the best we could hope for was a third place finish provided we won our final game against St John’s, also of Wallingford.

It did not start well. 1-0 down to an early first half strike, we had given ourselves a mountain to climb. However, a good period of attacking play finally saw us equalise, with Jack firing in a rasping shot from outside the area that flew into the roof of the net. Not long after, we were in total control. Oliver floated over a corner and Xander rose to give us a 2-1 lead and the belief that we could finish the tournament on a high. Unfortunately, this belief didn’t quite carry us through to the end of the match. A good finish from the St John’s striker meant the game would end as a 2-2 draw, and we finished in 4th place overall, meaning that our focus now turns towards our league season.

A huge thank you to those who transported us to Moulsford Prep and supported us throughout the tournament.

The team was: Harvey B, Xander O’B-W, Louie D, Albie H, Kit G, Oliver J, Jacob N, Leo B, Jack S, Ben N and Charlie C.