U11 Berkhamsted 7-a-side football - Saturday 11 March 2017

Sixteen of the top schools in Bucks and surrounding counties meet at the Berkhamsted 7-a-side competition. The boys were hoping to build on recent progress but things did not go to plan. In their first match they were slow to start and allowed Haberdasher’s too much time and space on the ball. They lost heavily 6-1.

In the second fixture, against Wellington, Gateway showed more fight and were unlucky not to snatch victory and had to settle for a draw. Fred W provided the highlight of the match, intercepting the ball just outside his goal area and then pushing forward into the opposition’s half; he played a nice one-two and scored from just inside the box to his and the team’s delight.

Gateway needed to win their last league match, against UCS, to progress in the competition but were outplayed and eventually lost 4-1. The boys were disappointed not to have done better but later heard that Haberdasher’s and UCS had contested the final so they were not the only team to find them tough opponents.

Having been knocked out of the cup, Gateway went into the quarter-finals of the Plate competition and should have won but missed several good chances to score against Radlett. The team went down 3-1 in the penalty shoot out and their opposition progressed to win the Plate competition! HJ

Squad: Fred H, Fred W, George C, Oscar V-B, James B, Henry G, Will SC-B, Sam B, Alex C