In the middle of their rugby season, the Year 6 boys found themselves changing back into their football shirts for this year’s ISA London South Area football championships in Sidcup. This year’s competition had been delayed two weeks due to the cold weather that covered the country in several inches of snow earlier in February.

The day started with everyone very excited and looking forward to a great day of football. The boys were in good voice on the journey up, singing along to many of their favourite songs. We arrived at Sipcup leisure centre in plenty of time for a good warm up and a few rounds of sandwiches before our first matches. 16 teams were entered into this year’s competition and the standard was looking pretty good. The Shoreham Lions were drawn against teams from Riverston School, Harenc and Bronte, whilst the Panthers were pooled against teams from Oakfield, West Lodge and St. David’s College.

The Lions got off to a flying start with a convincing 5-0 win against Riverston. There were goals from Oliver Davis Smith, William Ballard and a collectors item of a free-kick from Finley Bigg that left the goal keeper rooted to the ground by his heels.

Their second game was a much more closely fought contest with a 2-1 win over Bronte school. Isaac Swan played an integral part in this victory in midfield turning defence into attack on numerous occasions with some quick thinking and quick passes through the opposition. Charley Boyle saw a lot more action in this game and was forced to make some super saves.

A 2-0 win in their third and final group match meant qualification to the knock-out semi-final stage where the boys drew Elmhurst School who had also won all of their group stage games. The concession of an early, loose goal unsettled the boys and unfortunately, lead to another. At half time the Lions were able to catch their breath and regain their composure. They came out fighting and dominated most of the play in the second half. From a corner kick, Isaac Swan fired a rocket into the box that took a deflection off the back of Oliver Davis Smith and found it’s way into the back of the net. A fortuitous goal perhaps, but one that was well deserved because of the pressure they were applying on their opponents. Unfortunately, despite several more opportunities, the boys were unable to find that second goal they needed to level the match and take them into extra time for a shot at a place in the finals.

Shoreham’s second team, the Panthers, went into their first match against Oakfield School knowing they were in a hard group but with the belief they could progress out of the group stage. The game started off a bit slow with both teams trying to find their feet with chances few and far between. In the second half both teams stepped it up a gear and Shoreham were unlucky to concede two quick goals which saw them lose 2-0.

Knowing that they were unlucky to lose their first match, The Panthers were determined to secure victory in their second match of the day against West Lodge. As the first half progressed it became clear that Shoreham were much the better team with Sam Brown, Oliver Collins and Ethan Crosweller causing the West Lodge defenders all sorts of problems with some brilliant attacking play. The breakthrough came when Oliver Collins made a fantastic run down the right wing and crossed it in towards Ethan Crosweller who calmly slotted in past the keeper. West Lodge then equalised totally against the run of play to make it 1-1 at half time. Soon after the break, West Lodge scored again to make it 2-1, however there was no way Shoreham were going to lose this one and the boys rallied together and once again were playing some excellent flowing attacking football. Sure enough the goals came and two from Oliver Collins gave The Panthers their first win of the tournament and a chance to could progress to the semi-finals.

The final game saw Shoreham playing against the group leaders, Lingfield Notre Dame. After watching Lingfield’s previous matches in the group the team knew it would be a hard match to win, but went into the game full of confidence. The first half saw lots of pressure from Lingfield, however, some sturdy defending by Alex Kirby and Jamie Lai-Morrice kept the game at 0-0. The second half saw more brilliant defending and some excellent goalkeeping by Luke Griffiths, who had a fantastic tournament. With three minutes to go Shoreham knew if they were to qualify from the group they would have to win the game so went for a more attacking approach. This, however left more space at the back and in the space of 3 minutes Lingfield scored Three goals in quick succession, making the final result 3-0.

A super afternoon of football was had by both teams, and a place in the semi-finals was enough for the Lions to represent the region at the National championships to be held later on this term.