Brentwood School - Brentwoodian 2020

49 1st XI Overall, our football season has been one to remember. With 26 games played, 12 wins, 3 draws and 11 losses we have shown real character and unity throughout the season. As a team we managed to reach the ISFA Cup quarter final where we unfortunately lost to Shrewsbury School after extra-time alongside the semi finals of the Essex Cup which we had every intention of defending our crown from last year before the current pandemic took its toll on fixtures and, ultimately, cup competitions. Like all teams we had low points and high points and what really made us stand out as a team was our togetherness. With all the team being natural competitors and born winners we always made sure that both on and off the pitch we had each other’s back and continued to grow as a team. Being able to have the friendly environment that we had all adopted gave us the confidence to outperform teams and to also have more belief in ourselves when things weren't necessarily going to plan. Throughout the season the shape and structure stayed the same, which enabled us to know our roles, positions and tactics which had been cleverly put together by Mr Miller. He had prepared for every scenario we could face within football! Throughout the season our ability to move the ball quickly out wide and be able to move the ball with speed to create as many chances as possible was certainly one of our strengths. With the likes of Callum Balsom with his cracking deliveries and set piece specialist partnered up with the formidable strike force of George Pugh, John Sacere and Mason Murray we were a force to be reckoned with. Finlay Hardy and Zach Davidson locking down the midfield winning every tackle and showing real consistency to do the simple things correctly helped us succeed time and time again. One of the most important things we learnt as a team was to understand everyone's strengths and weaknesses. For example, the team knew not to let me go on a run from the centre back as more often than not it would end up with me losing the ball. Throughout the season our main goal scorers were George, John and Mason and some of the goals scored were outstanding. George Pugh’s little dink to equalise in our ISFA game against Eton was certainly one to remember and there were countless times John was taking inspiration from Lionel Messi and dribbled through the opposition despite everyone screaming for the ball, not to mention Mason Murray’s crucial goal to equalise, making it 2-2 in the quarter final of the ISFA Cup. As a team, we have learnt a lot about each other throughout the season; we built a true level of friendship, team cohesion and not to mention overall footballing ability. We showed hard work, dedication and commitment towards the football season and as the Captain it was a real privilege to be given the responsibility and ownership to drive the team for success. By Finlay Turner 2nd XI Overall, we genuinely feel we had a successful season considering the goalkeeper problem(s) we faced throughout the season. In total eight different goalkeepers played for the 2’s but we still won most of our games. Of these eight goalkeepers three (Olly Margiotta, Joel Winter and Theo Newton) also managed to play outfield during their respective matches in which they played part- time goalkeeper and partially outfield and even managed to score in the games from which they started in goal, surely a first for Brentwood senior school football. Throughout the season we ended up using 28 players because of injuries and circumstances, with the majority of these being Fifth and Lower Sixth Formers. We had a total of 14 different goal scorers, the top three being Ethan Norris with 15 goals for the season, Joel Winter with 9 and Olly Margiotta with 8, despite coming into the team later in the season. Highlights included some big wins throughout the season; the main ones were us beating Chigwell’s first team 1-0 and the two Whitgift victories away from home, where we beat them 4-0 and 6-2. This was so significant because of how well we played in these two games, with some fantastic goals from all over the pitch, including a stunning free kick from our centre back, Josh Argent. This was also evident when we beat Dulwich College 7-1 in treacherous conditions, playing some beautiful football throughout, creating great combinations which lead to some stunning goals. With us very rarely conceding lots of goals, defeats were hard to take; four of our five defeats this season all ended narrowly 2-1, which is a credit to those goalkeepers mentioned and defences. The good form continued through the season resulting in us making it to the Independent League semi-final. However after a hard- fought game, we were very unlucky to lose yet again 2-1, with the score line perhaps Football