Year 8 Football team crowned County Champions!

The Sirius Academy Year 8 Football team overcame arch-rivals St Marys Sports College to lift their 1st piece of silverware as a team. The boys produced arguably the best team performance of their Sirius careers to become the 1st team from the Academy to ever lift the Humberside Schools Cup, a cup that sees the best teams from the County compete for the title. The team fully deserved victory in a game that was played in terrible conditions, with all 14 players following the tactics superbly to record a convincing victory.
The game started with Marys on the front foot, however the back four of Jordan Wardell, Robbie Hird, Jordan Littlefair and Luke Collingwood, stood strong early, and this was to be the case throughout the match, as they dealt effectively with the dangerous Marys front two. Sirius began to settle down into the game and despite the difficult wet and windy conditions, they passed the ball well through the excellent Luke Salas, and he found willing runners on the wings in Kenan Stephenson and Oliver Russell. With both sides giving as good as they got, it took a neat pass from Stephenson to send Lukas Mikoliunas flying down the wing, and he showed great composure to hold the ball and play in Salas who clipped the ball over the keeper to put Sirius 1-0 up. Marys replied with an on-slaught of possession however the outstanding Lochlan Fitzgerald cut out several attacks, and his physical nature caused Marys problems throughout the game. With Will Murphy and Mikoliunas working hard up-front, Sirius gained a free-kick, 30 metres out, and Salas struck a cracking shot to find the top corner and give Sirius a 2-0 half-time lead.
The 2nd half began with Sirius again keeping possession well, and with Stephenson working tirelessly down the wing, Sirius created two opportunities, with both Murphy and Mikoliunas denied by the keeper. Marys worked their way back into the game, and began to create chances, most through set-piece attacks, however Kieran Bartlett in goal again showed his class to hold onto and save difficult shots in very difficult conditions. Against the run of play, Fitzgerald played through Salas, whose timing from midfield was again excellent, and he rounded the keeper to blast home, to give Sirius a 3-0 lead with fifteen minutes left. Fresh legs in Tom Spurgeon and Tom Greenham kept the relentless Sirius pressure up, and it was left to a Salas free-kick to be chased up by Stephenson who poked the ball home for a deserved goal, to give Sirius an unbelievable 4-0 win, and the title of County Champions!
Special thanks to Danny Rouse and Simon Jewitt for assisting with the team, and to Cosi Basile and Tom McLaughlin for supporting the boys.
Please congratulate the following boys on their successful season, as they have finished runners-up in both the League and Hull Schools 5 a-side competition, before beating Winifred Holtby, Cleethorpes and Toll Bar Academy to reach the Final of the County Cup:
Kieran Bartlett, Jordan Wardell, Robbie Hird, Jordan Littlefair, Kenan Stephenson, Luke Salas, Will Murphy, Oliver Russell, Luke Collingwood, Lukas Mikoliunas, Tom Greenham, Lochlan Fitzgerald, Joseph Wood, Tom Spurgeon.