Islington School Games Boys Yr 6 Football

A 2-1 defeat to St Johns Highbury Vale Primary in the final, shattered the boys dreams of being crowned champions. With two days of qualifying for the 24 schools that took part we arrived for our group qualifiers on Wednesday pretty confident of progression but with only one side from the group assured of qualification we knew that we had to be ready and on our game.

First up were Laycock Primary who provided a stiff test. We went ahead through Han, but in the second half looked like conceding until Sid pulled off a great save and from then it was pretty comfortable as another for Han and one for Stephane gave us a 3-0 win.

St Judes and St Pauls Primary followed and the boys continued their good from with a 5-0 win thanks to a hat trick for Han, and goals for Caleb and Amir (penalty).Tufnell Park Primary were our final opponents for the day and we ended how we started winning 1-0 thanks to Han again. So we returned the following day to join the seven other schools how had qualified.

The format saw the schools placed into two groups of four, with the top two going through to the semi-finals. First up were a school we have never played before in the form of St Marys Primary. With two players in the side who play for QPR FC it was not easy but goals from Han and Diago secured a 2-0 win. St Marys Magdalene Academy were beaten by the same score line with Han and Stephane on the scoresheet.With qualification to the semi-finals guaranteed we played a goalless draw with our friends from Canonbury Primary.

So onto the semi against Montem Primary which turned out to be a real nail biter! Stephane put us ahead early on, and despite dominating possession we couldn’t score the second. Montem to their credit hung on and then equalised, forcing the game into extra time. We took the lead again through Han, and then it was a case of seeing out the remaining few minutes which we did and set up a final against St Johns Highbury Vale.

Here we didn’t have the best of starts as our opponents took the lead and then they doubled that in the second half, leaving us with a mountain to climb. Han pulled one back immediately and despite pressing forward for the equaliser we ran out of time as the final whistle blew. A sad ending to a good week. The boys played some tremendous football and were a joy to watch. Credit to our victors who on the balance of play just about deserved it, however with much more sport to look forward too, I’m sure the boys will be up for the next challenge.

Despite not winning the boys final placing adds to our excellent record in this competition where in the space of six years we have won it once, and lost in two finals and semi-finals.

Squad: - Sid, Patrick, Amir, Archie, Cameron, Stephane (captain), Han, Diago, Caleb and Kayvon.