YEAR 9 v ST. THOMAS MORE (English School's Cup) - 11th September

An Inspired Comeback Ends with a Grandstand Finish

Congleton High School’s football season got underway tonight (Thursday 11^th September) with year 9 facing St. Thomas More (Stoke-on-Trent) in round one of the ESFA under 14 boys Playstation Schools’ Cup. Congleton High were trailing 1-3 but two goals within the final five minutes was enough to force penalties and saw them triumph 5-4.

Congleton started brightly and went close inside the opening five minutes of the first half. First, Finley Jackson could not keep his header down from a corner and saw the ball go over the bar. Congleton then went close again from a corner, this time Harry Pointon was unchallenged in the area but could not direct his header goal wards from close range. Pointon went near again but his ball across the box from the right hit the top of the crossbar.

However, it was St Thomas More who broke the deadlock after six minutes. A long ball from St Thomas More’s defence bounced over the CHS defence. Congleton’s goalkeeper Grigg came out of his area but More’s striker beat him to it. One of CHS’ defender did well to recover and get back but he could not prevent the ball from rolling across the line despite sliding to try and reach it. 0-1 St Thomas More.

Ten minutes on the clock and CHS nearly equalised after a good move. Pointon was put through on the right wing but his shot went just over. Five minutes later, George Johnson broke clear on the right. He decided to cross it instead of going for glory himself but it fell straight into the keeper’s hands.

St Thomas More doubled their lead after 20 minutes. Congleton’s goalkeeper produced a good save at the near post, pushing the ball around it for a corner after St Thomas More got in behind CHS’ defence. The corner was played in low into empty space 12 yards out. There was a rush to get to the ball, St. Thomas More got there first but the shot was deflected off a CHS leg. The ball then fell to another St. Thomas More player whose shot evaded the dozen legs and went past Congleton’s goalkeeper, who would have only seen the ball late on. Two minutes later it was 0-3 St. Thomas More. The ball was played to the right of the CHS area. Congleton’s goalkeeper came out but couldn’t get there. St. Thomas More’s striker’s shot from 14 yards out evaded Nathan Lupton’s attempted header on the line en-route to finding the back of the net.

Five minutes before half time, Congleton deservedly pulled a goal back. Logan Clowes’ shot was blocked by a sliding St. Thomas More defender however, the ball appeared to strike his arm. The referee hesitated before giving the penalty for handball. Finley Jackson stepped up, the goalkeeper went the right way but couldn’t keep his penalty out. It was a well taken penalty by Jackson, which ended in the bottom right corner of the net.

Congleton went near again three minutes later. George Johnson used his pace down the right to escape the defenders before crossing the ball into the box. A deflected shot fell to Finley Jackson whose header went straight across the goalmouth.

Half time- Congleton 1-3 St. Thomas More 

Congleton were unlucky to be behind never mind two goals down. They created a number of chances but just lacked that killer edge or the ball didn’t fall to them something which manager, Mr de Souza hoped would change in the second half.

It was St. Thomas More who had the first chance of the second half after a long ball from the restart went over CHS’ defence. St. Thomas More’s striker latched onto it but, luckily for CHS, his effort was off-target.

Harry Pointon’s long throw caused St. Thomas More problems before half time substitute, Matt Needham’s shot was stopped by Thomas More’s goalkeeper. Six minutes into the second half, Elliot Darmon’s ball from the left went across the goalmouth but CHS could not apply the faintest of touches it needed to send the ball into the back of the net.

Halfway through the second half, St. Thomas More had their first shot on target in the second half but it was a routine save for the CHS goalkeeper at the near post.

Mr de Souza decided to switch to the more traditional 4-2-2 formation and brought Logan Clowes back on with 13 minutes left.

Matt Needham made it 2-3 with four minutes to go to set-up a grandstand finish. CHS’ initial shot was cleared on the line; the rebound was then deflected before Needham was on hand to knock the ball into the net from a yard out- perhaps one of the easiest goals he will ever score. Following, Needham’s goal Mr de Souza switched to 3-4-3 to try and grab an equaliser. However, many thought it was too late with only a few minutes left.

How wrong they were.....as in the final minute of the game Congleton were awarded a corner. Mr de Souza wanted the ball to be played to Finley Jackson, who had a height advantage and is good with his head. After a flick-on the ball was in the air and Jackson attacked it and his header was powerful enough to send the match to penalties.

St. Thomas More took the first penalty and made no mistake powering the ball to the right side of the net (0-1). Finley Jackson then virtually re-enacted the penalty he scored earlier in the game for Congleton. The goalkeeper again going the right way but couldn’t get a hand to it due to it being right in the bottom corner (1-1). St. Thomas More kept the pressure on CHS after they scored their second which was a less powerful version of Jackson’s penalty (1-2). Congleton’s second penalty taker made the scores level with a composed finish to the right (2-2). St. Thomas More then missed their following penalty. Congleton’s goalkeeper would have been glad to see it roll past the post as he would not have been able to get a hand to it (2-2). Man of the Match, Harry Pointon then confidently found the bottom right corner (3-2). St. Thomas More kept the pressure on CHS with a lovely finish, right and high (3-3). Matt Needham made no mistake with his penalty finding the bottom left corner (4-3). St. Thomas More then scored their fifth penalty (4-4) which meant that Logan Clowes had his penalty to send Congleton through to the next round. Clowes emphatically made sure CHS won the penalty shoot-out with his penalty high and hard down the centre of the goal (5-4).

It was an incredible turnaround from Congleton to comeback from three goals down to win. Every player can take pride in how they performed as it was definitely a team effort. Congleton will now play either Audenshaw School (Tameside) or Cheadle Hulme School in the next round.

It was also excellent and very encouraging to see over 100 students participating in extra-curricular activities tonight including football and rugby.

Written by Adam Bailey