On Friday 9th October, our squad of 14 boys set off to Bury Grammar for a league tournament against St. Peter’s, St. Mary’s and Woodbank.

When we arrived, we were told that it was only going to be one team that would qualify for the second round. We knew this would be a difficult task but the boys were confident after their friendly victory on Monday.

In the first match we played against St. Peter’s, whilst Woodbank faced St. Mary’s on the adjacent pitch. Straight from the kick off Oliver Berry dispossessed the other team, ran to the edge of their box and with the keeper caught unaware, he blasted it into the bottom corner from 20 yards. 1-0 after 20 seconds!

Oliver Berry then took a free kick that had ‘goal’ written all over it but their keeper tipped it round the post. Joe Lynchey tackled well in midfield and dribbled round their defence to toe poke it cooly from the edge of the box past the goalie and into the bottom right hand corner. Great finish from our year 4 magician!

With another screamer, similar to his first, Oliver made the game safe at 3-0 with 10 minutes to go. Some great footwork and skill from Nathan Robinson saw him free in the box and he made no mistake blasting it confidently into the roof of the net after Lucas had passed it well into his feet. 4-0!

With a few minutes to go St. Peter’s were putting the pressure on but our defenders, particularly James and Harvey, were staying strong against their tricky number 9. Arron Sutcliffe was also producing some magnificent saves to hold onto a clean sheet. Holcombe Brook weren’t finished there and Dylan Rothwell broke down the left wing leaving two players behind and crossing dangerously with the ball ricocheting in off Nathan’s knee! 5-0 to Holcombe Brook, meanwhile, the other two teams were coming to the end of their match which finished 0-0.

St. Mary’s were next and we were 1-0 down after a shot from the edge of the box after 5 minutes. After some more great play down their right wing they struck well to make it 2-0.  Christopher finished well with a few minutes to go and the game finished 2-1 to St. Mary’s  we don’t have the official stats but I think we had 63 shots on goal and 29 of those were on target! A slight exaggeration but we were well on top!

You could sense that we all thought we were out at this stage with Woodbank beating St. Peter’s convincingly and St. Mary’s playing St. Peter’s next, knowing a win would see them qualify.

The team was shuffled around a little and Oliver Booth put in a really solid performance at right back alongside a calm and collected Harvey Effer in the centre. Within minutes Christopher was clean through but his shot powered off the bar. (Hang on a minute…A cheer from the adjacent pitch after St. Peter’s had scored – we had a chance here, but so did Woodbank, GAME ON!)

After a tense ten minutes, there was nothing in it, but a draw was no good for either team. Oliver Berry broke the deadlock with a powerful drive. St. Mary’s meanwhile had pulled one back. A win for us at this stage would see us qualify…

With 5 minutes to go a dangerous ball into our box was converted making it 1-1 after Arron had saved well, only to see it trickle agonisingly over the line. It became increasingly likely that we were to be knocked out as runners up. However, Christopher Jenkins had other ideas – a great cross by Oliver Berry which curled to the far post was met by a diving and sliding header into the roof of the net! Amazing. The referee blew for full time and we had an anxious wait to see how the other match finished.

Although St. Mary’s tried and tried they couldn’t find a way through.

HOLCOMBE BROOK QUALIFY FOR THE SECOND ROUND!!

Well done to all concerned and thank you to Mr. West and Mr. Crawshaw and all the parents!