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Sunday 7th September
Football

ISFA a2om SixesTournament (Winchester)

On Saturday September 7th, Oswestry School sent a squad of 9 players down to Winchester for the Independent Schools Football Association 6-a-Side tournament.

With a youthful squad, the youngest ever sent by the school, no one quite knew what to expect from the tournament and I don’t think any of the team realised the sort of standard we would encounter.  We had trained twice in the week leading up to the tournament and, although we had a completely different squad with only Sean Crompton and me as players surviving from last season, we looked settled and ready for the competition.

After a long journey down on the Saturday, the team stayed just outside of Winchester itself and enjoyed a good night together; all the team seemed to be getting along well. We started the tournament on the Sunday against Alleyn’s School.   Possibly due to lack of experience at 6-a-Side football, we were slow out of the blocks and started the game poorly.  We conceded an early goal and, though we improved vastly in the second half after a few changes to the side and tactical instructions from the two coaches, we were unable to break the Alleyn’s School defence. Whilst over-committing in search of an equalising goal, we were caught out on the break and conceded the crucial second goal and were unable to recover from this. We came away from our first game unlucky 2-0 losers as we matched Alleyn’s in most areas on the pitch but lacked that finishing touch.

Our second game saw Oswestry start the game brightly against John Lyon School creating some clear-cut chances but yet again unable to find the net.  Unfortunately, halfway through the second half, after having a chance to open the scoring, we conceded a sloppy goal at the other end. This turned out to be the only goal of the game and we came off the field defeated yet the better side.

In our final group game we came up against Chigwell School who turned out to be a very talented side.  Having already qualified for the plate competition, Oswestry rested key players; missing these players, Oswestry started slowly and conceded 3 early goals and, although chances were created by Oswestry in a goalless second half, there was no way back from a 3 goal deficit.
 
So, although Oswestry finished the group stage without a win to our names, as a squad we seemed optimistic about doing well in the first round of the plate knockout stages.  We made a few alterations and this seemed to be working well in the first part of game against Aldenham as we dominated the opening quarter. However, as it seemed to be an all too familiar trait for Oswestry, we failed to capitalise on chances and could not score. In a mad 5 minutes before half time, we conceded 3 goals from lacklustre play, and, although we continued to create numerous chances, we conceded a further 2 goals and came away from a game where we some times dominated play defeated by 5 goals by the eventual winners of the plate competition.
 
We finished the competition without a win and unlucky in many respects.  We have a talented side this year and I am sure, once the team finds its best side and builds up confidence, we can have a very successful season.  I would like to say thanks to Callum Morris, Adam Lloyd, Sam Bainbridge, Max Payne, Ricky Martoccia, Ben Draper, Sean Crompton and Marco for the effort put in during the tournament.  Also thanks to both Mr Morris and Mr Clarke for taking us down to Winchester and for the advice and coaching they provided during the competition.
 
Oliver Clarke
Captain