(Boston Spa win 3-2 on pens)

Yesterday the year 9 football team came within a whisker of being crowned ‘West Yorkshire champions’ after a pulsating final, in which both teams went at each other hammer and tongs, before they were eventually separated by penalties.  The drama unfolded from the kick-off and did not relent until the last kick of the ball, leading to understandable jubilation from the Boston players and heartache for the Bede’s boys.  The game was finely balanced throughout and could have gone either way but, unfortunately, there could only be one winner and on this occasion, it was Boston Spa.  On the balance of play they probably just about deserved their victory, as they were the more dangerous-looking side in the 70 minutes of normal time.  To be fair, however, Bede’s came back strongly towards the end- showing tremendous character and fitness- and were definitely the stronger of the two in extra-time.

The game was played at Ossett Albion AFC and after a record month of rainfall, it was something of a miracle that the game went ahead as scheduled.  This was in no doubt helped by the sloping pitch, which was also extremely’ bobbly’ making slick passing difficult and first touches crucial.  Indeed, it was testament to the players that such an entertaining spectacle was produced on such a difficult surface.  Ironically, given the recent weather, it was a lovely warm afternoon and the game was played in bright sunshine throughout.

The first chance fell to Boston, but Glenn Cockitt produced a brilliant one-handed block as their attacker reigned in on goal.  The importance of this save was underlined after ten minutes, as Bede’s went up the other end and scored the opening goal, with virtually their first meaningful attack.  A fine through-ball by Luke Simpson was nonchalantly flicked past the advancing keeper with the outside of his boot by Dominik Wasowski.  One-nil to Bede’s… the perfect start.  The goal precipitated a bombardment of the Bede’s defence by Boston, with their talismanic midfield dynamo embarking on a one-man crusade to find an equalizer.  Time after time he picked the ball up in the middle of the park and ran straight through the heart of the defence, riding desperate Bede’s tackles at will.  At this juncture, Bede’s were riding their luck massively and could easily have been losing, never mind preserving their lead.  During this siege, Cockitt- who was enjoying a fine half- injured himself against an upright and had to be replaced by the young Kyle Trenery between the sticks.  Somehow Bede’s held on till half-time without conceding and, despite one or two long-range efforts, the half had been dominated by their opponents.

Unfortunately, Bede’s luck changed almost immediately after the restart when a routine take from a cross was fumbled by Trenery.  Boston’s striker was on hand to force the ball over the line and give them much-needed impetus.  To his credit, the keeper quickly atoned for his error when he brilliantly stopped an almost certain goal when, one on one, he poached the ball at the feet of the would-be scorer.  On twenty minutes, however, Bede’s did find themselves down for the first time and, again, it was self-inflicted.  Calling for the ball from his keeper, Sumaili Cissa dithered (apparently not seeing his marker close in), allowing the ball to be pinched off his toes.  The resultant shot was blocked by Trenery but the ball rebounded kindly to their attacker, who needed no second invitation.

Bede’s were now up against it, but showing true grit and indomitable spirit, simply refused to be beaten.  A free-kick from deep inside their own half was missed by the Boston defender’s attempted clearance and fell invitingly at the feet of Chris Parker.  Still with a lot to do and time running out, Parker weighed up his options, before clinically stroking the ball under the keeper’s despairing dive.  With their tails up, Bede’s now went for the jugular and tried to win the game in normal time, but the referee blew his whistle, signaling 14 minutes of extra-time.

Despite Bede’s dominance in both halves of this extra period- Devine going close to glory on a number of occasions- Boston clung on and the inevitable shrill of the referee’s pea meant the dreaded penalty shoot-out was upon us once again.  Having won one and lost one of these ‘lotteries’ already this season, everybody was praying for it to be third time lucky in this most important of all shoot-outs.  At 0-2 down, following saves from Kesi Omolokun and Devine the omens were not looking good, but a brilliant stop from Trenery gave Bede’s hope.  Skipper Charlie Barker tucked his pen away comfortably and when Boston missed again, followed by Cissa’s coolly-taken effort, incredibly it was all-square again at two apiece!  Trenery almost pulled off another fine save, getting his fingertips to a perfectly taken effort, which left Wasowski with the unenviable task of scoring his penalty to keep Bede’s hopes alive.  Alas, it was not to be, as the ball cleared the crossbar and as Bede’s players sunk to the ground, their counterparts sprinted to mob their hero in goal before gleefully lifting the trophy.

In true style, St Bede’s players to a man, were magnanimous in defeat and can take great pride in their performance.  They have only lost one match all season (in normal play) and that was against the English Schools’ semi-finalists!  It has been a fantastic effort from start to finish, and it has been a privilege working with this group of players.  Many congratulations and I look forward to starting all over again in September.

If you want to come see Mr. King or the PE Department for a letter.

Hipperholme & Lightcliffe Sports College, 3 – St Bede’s, 4

Last Wednesday the year 9 football team travelled to Hipperholme & Lightcliffe for a West Yorkshire Cup play-off to decide who would go through to face Boston Spa in the final at Ossett Albion AFC.  In effect, this was a semi-final replay, having drawn 0-0 on home soil with the same opponents in their last group game before Easter.  Coincidentally, after five group matches, these two evenly-matched teams had the same number of points, each boasting an impressive record of ‘won 4, drawn 1’.  Not surprisingly, given previous results, this sudden-death encounter proved to be another enthralling, nail-biting and tight affair, with neither side giving an inch or backing down.

The game kicked off in appalling conditions, which were to continue for the majority of the 60-plus minutes but in no way did the weather compromise the endeavour and quality on view.  Somewhat against the run of play, it was the hosts who opened the scoring after quarter of an hour with a fantastic  surge from midfield, accompanied by an even better finish in to the top corner from an acute angle.  It left Kyle Trenery, playing a year above his age group in place of the unavailable Glenn Cockitt, a mere spectator.  In typical fashion, Bede’s bounced straight back with a simply stunning goal of their own, courtesy of the inspirational Danny Devine.  Letting fly from fully 25 yards, Devine’s perfectly struck rasping drive whistled in to the back of the net.  Indeed, such was the power, accuracy and trajectory of the strike, the ball would have still flown in had the goal been a further 15 yards back!

The visitors were now full of confidence and playing some really attractive football on the ‘3G’ pitch with Omolokun bossing the midfield, ably supported by skipper Barker, Devine and Cissa- playing wide on the right- with Parker taking over his responsibilities up front.  H & L were absorbing lots of pressure but still looked very dangerous on the counter-attack and Bede’s defence had to be constantly alert.  Trenery, however, was looking assured and authoritative in spite of his tender years.  At half-time the game was evenly poised at one apiece with the outcome very much hanging in the balance.

Any anxiety regarding the destiny of the match was soon dispelled, however, when Mr Snape’s troops really took the game by the scruff of the neck at the start of the second half.  Five minutes after the restart, the hard-working Dominik Wasowski raced onto a through ball and bravely nicked the ball past the onrushing keeper, before taking a clattering for his efforts.  Soon after, the lead was doubled when Chris Parker turned inside the box and slotted the ball home, putting Bede’s into a seemingly unassailable 3-1 lead.  The ‘gaffer’ should have known better, however, and realised that H & L were not about to roll over and die and, following a flowing move, the margin was reduced to a solitary goal.  When a free-kick was awarded just outside the penalty area, alarm bells were ringing but the Bede’s wall did its job and stood firm…or did it?  According to the referee, the players in the wall had encroached and the free-kick was ordered to be retaken.  This time, the ball beat the wall but there seemed little danger as the ball looked to be heading straight down Trenery’s throat.  Unfortunately for the keeper and dispiritingly for Bede’s the greasy ball slipped between his hands and dropped agonisingly over the line to level the scores at 3-3.

Back where we started and with only minutes remaining, Bede’s showed the determination and strength of character that has been a hallmark of their season.  A free-kick in an identical position on the edge of their opponent’s box was lined up by (who else) the irrepressible Devine.  Requiring no second invitation, he curled a brilliant effort around the wall and into the top right-hand corner with the keeper motionless.  This time Bede’s were not to be denied and, despite a tremendous last siege by H & L who forced a succession of dangerous and heart-stopping corners, the lads held on grimly for a wonderful and thoroughly deserved victory.

Regardless of the outcome of the final, it has undoubtedly been a memorable season.  Winning some silverware against Boston Spa, however, would present the squad with some tangible reward for their sterling efforts throughout the year.  Being crowned ‘2012 West Yorkshire Champions’ has a lovely ring to it and would certainly put the icing on the cake…best of luck fellas!

‘VALIANT BEDE’S EXIT CUP  WITH PRIDE RESTORED’

This was a repeat of the fixture between the two sides in the group stages of the competition, in which Thornton had run out convincing winners albeit against a twelve-man Bede’s team.  This time around, however, Bede’s had a full quota of players, if not their first-choice starting line-up.  Although the result was to prove a similar story, the performance was a different matter altogether and the lads can hold their heads up high after a battling effort that was lacking in the first encounter.

Indeed, the first ten minutes were all Bede’s and, but for a couple of handling errors with the try-line at their mercy, they could, and probably should, have taken a well-deserved lead.  Excellent approach play up the middle laid the platform for the lads on the fringes to score but, unfortunately the ball failed to stick at the critical moment and the scoring opportunities were missed.  Thornton were visibly shaken and taken aback by the power and strength of the Bede’s forwards but, despite this initial onslaught, they soon got a foothold in the match with an excellent try in the left-hand corner.  Further tries followed but at least Thornton were being made to work for their tries- unlike the soft ones that Bede’s shipped earlier in the season.  Key to this improvement was far greater intensity, physicality and discipline in defence, which held firm on a number of occasions in spite of being put under intense pressure.  Predictably, as the lads found to their cost, repelling wave after wave of attacks and back-to-back sets of six is virtually impossible for any length of time.  Eventually, no matter how committed, cracks will appear and the dam will be breached.   To their immense credit, however, the floodgates never fully opened and Bede’s can take great heart from that fact.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, although at least Bede’s managed to get over the ‘whitewash’ through captain and go-to man Michael Handol.  The powerful, lean, new-look prop, never took a backwards step and kept going throughout.  He deservedly crashed over not once, but twice, to the obvious delight of both his coach and team-mates alike.  Ably supported by the likes of scrum-half Daniel Gaffey, the raw but talented Francis Campos and novice Tim Canning (who produced numerous effective offloads), Bede’s never threw in the towel and actually finished the game more strongly.  Honourable mentions must also go to year 9’s Callum Bent, Jacob Wheeler and Cameron Gibbons as well as Jake Hewitson who made at least two try-saving tackles!  Thornton, to be fair, were well out of sight by this point and fully deserved their win…we wish them well in the final against Oakbank at Odsal.

For Bede’s it was the end of the road and it has undoubtedly been a tough journey and steep learning curve for everybody involved.  Despite results, however, there have been many plusses making it an uncomfortable but necessary ride.  Individual players have improved and all of the younger players have gained invaluable experience, which will stand them in good stead next season.  They have proved that, when we put out a full squad, they can be competitive and that bodes well for the future.  I, for one, am certainly not discouraged and firmly believe that, if we can learn from our mistakes, we will be in far better shape for the challenges that lie ahead.  This starts next month with an Emerging Schools ‘Nines’ tournament, which will hopefully provide a bit of end-of-season fun and a positive end to the year!

Non Uniform 2012_05_01

The boys from Year 10 had been selected to join the course to give them a more positive outlook on their school lives and build confidence in school giving them something positive to focus on in school.

The scheme started 4 months ago with the boys coming out one lesson a week to participate in the course training and learning how to coach boxing. The boys responded very well to the course and have reduced the level of behavior problems in lessons and built up their confidence around school.

Rachael was designated as our mentor for the course and came in for half a day and also a full day which was on the 23^rd of April.

The day started with Rachael coming and delivering an assembly to all the students in the school showing a video of her fights which took the students breath away with the ferocity and intensity of the fights and how successful she had been in her career.

After this the students from the course came down and did an hours training session with Rachael. The boys said this was one of the hardest training sessions of their lives because of intensity and the amount of work they completed within the hour.

In the afternoon we invited 16 of the most talented year 7 students to come and train with the boys and Rachael. He boys were absolutely fantastic with the youngsters really helping them develop the new skills to a very high ability. Their hard work and specific help really paid off with these individuals with them leaving really enjoying the work they had done and thanking the lads for their efforts.

We then went up to the classroom were Rachael gave the students a master class on how to balance their training lives and their school lives and how important hard work and training to the best of your ability is when you are striving to be the very best.

It was a real pleasure to have such a talented sports person in school who has been a fantastic role model to the students and has really inspired them to achieve anything they want in their lives.

Quotes

The day was really enjoyable and Rachael has made me really want to work harder in my sport and in school as anything is possible!! – Ryan Pemberton

I really enjoyed working with the year 10 students as they really pushed us and taught us lots of new skills I had never learned before. – Eli Steinberg

Rachael was amazing she is the hardest person I’ve ever met! What a role model to us all she is being an ex-pupil. – Joe O Callaghan

St Joseph’s and St Bede’s News April 2012