CFC Primary Stars Tournament
Wet, wet, wet would accurately describe the tournament today...the rain simply didn't stop! But that didn't prevent Honeywell's Football Team taking to the pitch at Chelsea FC's training ground 5 times to play against the qualifying schools from the Southern Region. 6 teams in total, with 5 matches to play to qualify for the finals in Watford later this term.
First match vs Fulham Bilingual (whom we had played and beaten in the qualifiers before half term) but on smaller pitches, whilst our boys knew they needed to shoot & score, none of their attempts hit the target, and that set the tone for the first match. 0-0 draw.
Straight into their next game vs Laleham a 1-0 win to Honeywell (Theo landed our first goal of the tournament) and Platon moved into right back to support Honeywell's defence, and pass down the line to his team mates.
vs St John's next, and we'd found our stride, 1-0 (a beautiful demonstration of passing between Max, Matthieu, Theo to nail the goal) with a number of goals attempted from most of our players on the pitch, including a beautiful attempt from Rhys from half-way up the pitch (we all thought it was on target, but unfortunately the crossbar was in the way).
St Michael's Ashford and our boys were starting to tire having played hard in their previous match, but Ned & Lucas used their speed to push the ball back down the line, it wasn't to be, and we lost 0-2.
St Polycarps our final game (this team were top of the table, so Honeywell knew we needed a win, but in reality 3 goals was the only way we would topple them from the top)....our boys played great football, they really worked their socks off, passed accurately, and between them delivered a win 1-0. Max in defence certainly worked to stop our opponents driving towards the goal, and Jago also saved a number of St Polycarps attempts at Honeywell's goal.
Third place on goal difference - Honeywell had 1 on GD (Fulham Bilingual had 3 taking second) and St Polycarps retained their 1st place. Some comfort taken from knowing we'd beaten the overall winners....
The boys embodied Honeywell spirit during the tournament, they dried off on their return to school (and should they be wearing 'borrowed' clothes when they arrived home this evening, they taken were from the spare kit cupboard, to ensure that they warmed up faster)!
Third place of 60 or so teams, is an incredible achievement, and both Luke (and James, our on-loan Coach) commented on how much they had improved game on game, and their last match really was a strong demonstration of what these boys do best - play hard and fast, relentless football.
The photos clearly show the camaraderie between the boys, when your hands are in Goalie gloves, you need help with your laces, and how they bonded on the train home as we desperately tried to dry coats over the chair backs!
Thanks to parents for bringing the boys to meet at Clapham Junction this morning, I hope they have all enjoyed hot baths tonight and an enormous thank you to Luke for his unstinting focus on coaching today and to James for stepping in and supporting him in Pete's absence.
