Brentwood School - Brentwoodian 2020

53 U14B The first game of the season for the mighty U14B team was away at Wilson’s School. We went into our first game confident in the 4-3-3 formation we chose to adopt for the season. We played well but we weren't at our best for the whole game, coming out with a 3-3 draw and with goals coming from Rhys Jassar, Alex O’Neal and Zach Puchakayala. At the following trainings we worked hard, understood our shape more, improved at playing the ball and started playing better as a team so when we played Whitgift School in our next game we won convincingly 3-1 with two goals coming from Kesiena Okenabirhie and one of them being a stunning goal powered into the top right from range and the other goal from Finlay Stronach. We kept our undefeated streak going when we played Bishop’s Stortford High School and won 3-0. The next game, which was against Bedford Modern High School, also continued our undefeated streak when we won 4-1 with a goal from George Mortlock which I think we would all say was the best goal of the season. He shot from just roughly the halfway line smashing it what looked like way over until it dipped in and over the keeper’s head. St Martin’s School were the next opposition we had and we didn’t want to lose our streak so we played well securing the win 2-1. The final game of the season was against Highgate School and it was a big match as we wanted the undefeated season and we got it with a 2-2 draw, both our goals coming from Rhys Jassar and one of the best assists of the season from James Sydenham when he gave Rhys the perfectly weighted chip through ball which Rhys then scored, also giving himself top goal scorer for the season. So we managed to go undefeated throughout the whole season with the help of the whole team and our coach, Mr Prior, which was the perfect way to finish the football season. By Thomas Eastwood U14D Over the course of the season the D team went from strength to strength putting in some great performances. We beat the D team in the year above. Our coach, Mr Howard, made sure we gave 100% in every training session that we took part in to make sure we could play to the best of our ability in the real games. Our fixture against Bishop’s Stortford was a real favourite in which we won 6-5 in an end-to-end game. As a D team we played some really good football. It was such a shame that the season was cut short and we couldn’t finish our last two games, as I feel like we would have only got better and better. Thank you to Mr Howard for coaching and motivating us. By Cameron Joy U13A Our U13A season started with a huge cup fixture against Aldenham in the ISFA competition. Representing our School proudly, we set out to make our presence known in one of the biggest independent school tournaments in England. After an intense and positive opening passage of Brentwood domination, we had nearly taken a 1-0 lead however this attempt had just crept past the post. Unfortunately we lost by a significant score (too much to mention), however in periods of the game our play was very good and we can honestly say we gave everything. Unfortunately we just couldn’t match the intensity and strength of the extremely strong Aldenham side. We could not let this phase us, onwards and upwards…... After a morale bruising loss we came back with a point to prove in training; we worked our socks off. We have been taught that ‘The Brentwood way’ is to always start with passion and high tempo. This is where the rondos come in. This is a key way to get our bodies moving and brains thinking. In addition, we would work on spreading the play and getting the ball out to the wide players. Focus from sir was on pressing highly and quickly and working on our build- up play, to improve our quick possession play. In our second fixture of the season we played a strong Whitgift side containing a number of talented players. We used to our advantage what we had learnt in training, by dominating possession and keeping the ball moving. At half-time we were winning 2-1 but not getting ahead of ourselves. We then started attacking very aggressively which resulted in us scoring 3 further goals however this left us vulnerable at the back, leading to us only conceding 1 more goal due to Dillon Colar’s great shot stopping keeping us in a comfortable position. Our next game was against a very strong Bishop’s Stortford side. We took the lead in the opening ten minutes with a great move which was eventually finished by Joe Payne, only then to concede ten minutes later. By the end of the first half it was 1-1. After an encouraging speech from Mr Crickmay, we headed out to put this game to bed which resulted in us scoring two great goals. Josh Ajala scored a penalty and Ben Cope scored a screamer from 30 yards straight into the top corner. This had to be the goal of the season!! We conceded a late goal but did not give away our lead and ended winning 3-2, which was a brilliant result for us. In our last game of the season which was cut short by the awful global situation with COVID-19, we lost 3-2, mainly due to silly mistakes in difficult weather conditions but this could not be an excuse. However,