Year 10 Humberside Cup Champions!!!
In the famous words of Queen, ‘We are the champions!!’
In game that was only 2 days after the semi-final, the team were still on a high from the victory and carried that into the final! At a neutral venue, on a bobbling pitch the Sirius 10 team were up against fierce rivals Malet Lambert, a team they have struggled to beat in the past. It was a game that brought derby tensions I have felt only in a Tyne and Wear derby in the homeland, with a Sirius team up for a victory following an agonising 2-1 ET defeat in the nationals.
The game started with both sets of players showing some early signs of nerves with a couple of misled passes, mistimed tackles and a couple of chances in front of goal. After the nervy first 10minutes both teams started to get a foothold on the game. With key Malet Players in the middle of the midfield the Sirius team focused on using width to their advantage… to which brought success! An excellent run by Dom Litwinski down the right hand side provided a brilliant cross into the box, which was met calmly by Charlie Morriss with a fine first touch. His touch set himself up perfectly for what was a composed finish to make it 1-0 and Charlie’s 3rd goal in just 3 days! With the lead, Sirius players tightened up the defence and midfield for what would be a testing 10minutes at the end of the half. Stephen Pougher was tremendous in goal again collecting anything that would make it into his box, (even a misjudged header by Jack Langley). But it was the whole team, with Adam Kelsey commanding the defence back line, challenged every tackle, header and second ball to hold on to HT at 1-0.
In the second half Malet made a tactile change to put their big no.9 further up the field, which opened up more space in the middle of the pitch. Alex Appleby and Josh Jarvis exploited this opportunity on several occasions, making fine runs and just being short of a deserving goal each. Jack Langley, who played like a warrior through the pain barrier, eventually was subbed for Alfie Pougher who also had an excellent opportunity to extend the teams lead. Once again injuries proved to test the team with Alfie’s Semi-final injury proving too much and was replaced by a determine Jordan Hance. Malet pushed forward, at times with 4 up front, but Sirius held their own! New recruit Will Willson was solid in the heart of the defence and Callum Baker put in one of his exceptional performances he does every single game. Martin Jude was outstanding too, he held up every ball that came to him upfront by himself with the ball sticking to his feet like glue and was replaced by Harry Knight who came on to provide that last boost of energy. After a couple of nail biting minutes the whistle blew and Sirius were crowned Humberside Champions!!
A massive congratulations to every single player in that team who deserved this amazing achievement. I am extremely proud of every single one, they are a great models of an outstanding academy. Their trophy will be placed in the trophy cabinet for all to see soon. Special thanks goes to Lynda Needham and Alex Sherwood for driving the bus and offering their support to the team along with the parents. Thanks to everyone who has wished the players well and allowed them to be part of the team.
