7 Boys Football v Broadoak

On Tuesday 14 March the year 7 boys travelled to WSM for a friendly football fixture against Broadoak School. The boys were apprehensive about the game even before the start as they were missing keeper Toby Rice who had been man of the match in almost every single one of their matches thus far.

The boys seemed to start brightly in the game and were showing no signs of anxiety after the game had started. Ollie Stratton had kindly volunteered to go in goal and took to his task gloveless circa 1970. Ollie may have been without gloves but certainly wasn’t without ability as he took to his task admirably and kept his goal really well. The boys were starting to get the ball down at play and were looking a real threat, in particular down the right hand side. On a couple of occasions Isaac Adebo managed to get the ball wide and get to the by-line and Mans Yilmaz was also enjoying roaming down the right wing.

Nana was marshalling his defense really well as always and positionally the boys seemed to be much tighter playing with the wind at their back for the first half. On a number of occasions the boys were able to move the ball wide and create opportunities which led to their first goal. The ball was driven down the right hand side before being crossed into the danger zone by Isaac Adebo. Striker Leo West was waiting in the perfect position to meet the ball but was narrowly beaten to it by the Broadoak defender. Leo had the presence of mind to win the ball back before showing some really neat footwork on the edge of the penalty area and fire the ball home to give his team a 1 goal lead. The boys were looking good for their lead but Broadoak were certainly not without threat. A number of balls were cut out defensively which was hugely pleasing as it meant that boys were in the right place at the right time! Ari Rugman in particular found himself between ball & intended target on more than one occasion at right back.

SK were delighted to have scored a goal and even more pleased to have a clean sheet but things were about to get even better! For the last few weeks Ben Bohin has showed all of the signs of being a fantastically talented footballer but has not had a significant number of opportunities as his team mates have been pre-occupied with their defensive duties. This was proving to be a fantastic opportunity for Ben and he certainly made the most of it when he blasted the ball high into the roof of the net with an emphatic finish. Ben not only showed his ability but also gave his team mates a two goal cushion at half time.

Despite their lead the boys could not afford to let complacency creep in as the wind blowing down the pitch was probably worth at least 3 goals. They were definitely going to be up against it defensively in the second half. It didn’t take long for Broadoak to get back into the game and the early goal really stunned the St Kath’s boys. You could see them battling hard against the conditions and their opposition as Broadoak were growing stronger with each passing minute. The defensive positioning of the SK boys was soon starting to crumble again and Broadoak found themselves having opportunities on goal that they shouldn’t have done. Had it not been for keeper Ollie Stratton they would have been level sooner. Ollie made some great saves but the equaliser was inevitable and there was nothing he could do about it. Once Broadoak had drawn level you knew that the away team were going to find it really difficult to get any sort of result.

Unfortunately for the boys Broadoak went from strength to strength and scored on three more occasions to take the tie well out of reach of the St Kath’s boys – much to their dismay. They had worked so hard, scored two brilliant goals but still had nothing to show for it and you couldn’t help but feel for them as their disappointment was evident. Despite the result there were a huge number of positives to come out of the game. Ben Bohin was deserved winner of the man of the match award and was a real leader for the boys in attack. In actual fact I am writing this report after teaching Ben earlier today. He scored 5 goals in an unbelievable PE lesson earlier today which brought about huge plaudits from his peers. In and amongst the 5 was one really cute finish into the bottom corner from a difficult angle and another superbly struck long range effort!

Well done gentlemen – keep working hard!

Mr Cook