The S. Anselm’s “A” team had a long and enjoyable afternoon playing in this annual tournament which featured 24 teams from no fewer than 16 local schools.
The group stage was comfortably won with victories over Stanton-In-The-Peak, 3-0, the S. Anselm’s “C” team by 5-0 and Great Longstone Blue by 5-0.
From there, a mere stroll on a fine Spring afternoon became the most intense and desperate competition. In the quarter-finals, we played Bishop Pursglove from Tideswell, took a deserved lead but threw it away and had to face penalties, three for each team. Although we missed our first, so did Tideswell and by planting the next two firmly in the back of the net while Ollie remained unbeaten in our goal we eased into the semi-final.
There, we played possibly the best team in the tournament in the shape of Brampton “A”. They had the bulk of the play and threatened our goal repeatedly but never managed to score the vital goal. It was penalties again and this time with enough drama for a Word Cup Final. We missed our first, they scored; we scored, they scored; we did. That made it 2-2 and they only had to hit the back of the net with their third to reach the final. Easier said than done, so with the score at 2-2 after three penalties each it was on to sudden death. We missed so giving Brampton another chance to go through; Ollie by presence and reputation made that no easy task: they failed again. We scored our fifth penalty, Brampton again couldn’t find the net and we bounded into the final.
There, we came up against All Saints, Matlock, and were soon two goals down. The spirit, heart and determination that had brought us this far was still there, we pulled one back. Even though All Saints scored again, for 3-1, there was no despair and again we scored. Despite making every possible effort it wasn’t enough, we couldn’t find the equaliser, and All Saints took the trophy with a 3-2 win.
It was an afternoon for brave hearts and endless determination and our squad of eight showed these qualities in abundance. Every one of them contributed hugely, Lewis was a rock in defence, Will at the back and Andy all over the pitch put in solid shifts, Ed worked with tireless skill. Elliot was our top scorer with six of our sixteen goals, the others pitched in. A special mention must be reserved for the stars of those two penalty shoot-outs. Alex and Isaac took two each that they slammed home with emphatic certainty; what a quality to be able to do that under pressure! Ollie Rudd was an absolute star in goal; he was a virtual spectator through the group stage, had to work much harder in the knock-out stages and was a key factor in us coming through two penalty shoot-outs.
MJS.
Posted on
Wed, March 17, 2010
by MAC