Football Report

It was a very positive weekend for St Paul’s Football, with a number of highlights to report and a number of ‘firsts’.

It was the first time that we had a Senior block fixture against Charterhouse. Charterhouse play their football in the highest Independent School ‘Hudl’ football league and we were able to take the 1st XI, 2nd XI and 3rd XI to the Surrey School. The 1st XI, thanks to a last minute goal from Raiyaan Hussain, were able to beat the Charterhouse 1st XI 2-1 away from home in a gritty, brave performance. The 2nd XI, despite hitting the woodwork a number of times were held to 1-1, but the 3rd XI capitalised on the tight pitch conditions and won 5-1.

It was the first time that we had taken a group to train at the Brentford Training Ground and the U16A squad were lucky enough to get a professional training session delivered to them and see a premier league training facility.

It was the first time, in a long time, that we have played Wellington College in a block fixture and we were able to play them in 8 separate matches. The U16B were triumphant away at Wellington, winning 7-1 in the only U16 fixture this weekend due to a lack of availability from the opposition. The U15 year group were dominant in their 3 matches, winning with an aggregate of 20-3 showing the strength in depth that we have. The U15A won 4-1, the U15B won 6-1 and the U15C won 10-1 with Ollie Coughlan scoring 4 goals!

It was the first fixtures of the year for the U14’s, who played at home on Saturday afternoon. They started their St Paul’s football careers strongly with the U14A winning 3-2, the U14B winning 4-0, the U14C 8-0 and the U14D winning 7-1, despite having to lend a few players to the opposition!

The final block results were: St Paul’s won 10 , drew 1 and lost 0.

The St Paul’s Football Club extends its thanks to the grounds staff for their tireless efforts in ensuring the pitches were prepared after an enormous amount of rain last week. Thanks to Nikos and the catering team for providing excellent match teas for boys, staff, and parents. Thanks to Dave Green and his team of referees for officiating the matches and thank you to all of the coaching staff involved on Saturday for your continued enthusiasm and efforts.

There is a busy week ahead as the 1st XI travel to Wales on Wednesday to play Monmouth School in the Semi-Final of the ISFA National Competition. The 2nd XI play Hampton in the second round of the London Cup and the remainder of the Senior teams also play Hampton on Wednesday. The U16’s welcome The London Oratory on Thursday and we have a block fixture vs Berkhamsted this Saturday with 16 St Paul’s teams playing.

Written by Tom Vickers, Assistant Director of Sport, Head of Football