St Paul’s 1st XI Football team makes history

The 1st XI started their season away at Sevenoaks in the prestigious ISFA Boodles Cup.

This is only the second year that the school has entered the competition, which has traditionally been targeted at schools that complete two terms of football, meaning the standard of competition is extremely high.

St Paul’s adapted well to the wet and windy conditions, showing good levels of patience, keeping the ball on the floor and dominating the possession statistics.

There were a flurry of chances before Aris Alexandridis found the back of the net following an excellent first touch with his back to goal.

Kyan Mentesh scored a direct freekick, beating the keeper from further than 30 yards and Thomas Evans Alcantara continued his fine form from last season to open his account, taking the score to 3-0 as the first half came to an end.

Sevenoaks clearly had a good half-time tactical conversation, coming out in the second half with far more creativity and positivity, changing the momentum of the game.

St Paul’s soaked up an extended period of pressure, conceding two goals, but the team rallied together and showed resilience and determination creating two further chances for Evans Alcantara who scored both and finished the game with a well-deserved hat trick.

With the score finishing 5-2, there were a number of positives taken from the game as St Paul’s made history by progressing through to round 2 of the competition, where we face Ardingly College.