MYP 3-5 mixed football match vs Belmont School match report
On Wednesday 8th November 2023 students from Wotton House International School made the short trip to Cheltenham to play a football match against Belmont School. Wotton House arrived at Belmont with 16 players in total which is a fantastic turn out for the game that kicked off at 13:30. Mr Vaughan and the head of sports from Belmont who kindly volunteered to referee the match decided to play a 7 a side match with rolling subs.
Wotton House made an incredibly fast start to the game and from the off looked like the far superior team. This was illustrated by Luc scoring the first goal of the game very early on. Wotton House continued to dominate the possession. However, Belmont managed to create a quick fire chance on a counter attack but goalkeeper Maxwell had his wits about him and made a spectacular save to keep it 1-0. Wotton House continued to have the lion's share of possession which resulted in Michael weaving his way in and out of the defence before scoring a fantastically finished individual goal.
At this stage of the game it looked like it was going to be a very one sided affair. However, momentum changed very quickly when a great bit of individual skill from a Belmont player led to them scoring a goal bringing the game to 2-1.
Belmont continued to grow in confidence and continued to apply pressure on Wotton House. This pressure eventually told with Belmont scoring again to bring the game level. Belmont quickly went on to strike another blow by scoring again shortly after giving them the lead.
The Wotton House players were a little flustered by the quick change in momentum and were glad to see the half time whistle.
Mr Vaughan gathered the team and congratulated them on a great start and said that in order to get themselves back into the game they needed to start playing more as a team rather than individuals by looking to pass and move the ball better.
Wotton House started the second half much like the first half and applied a lot of pressure on Belmont. For a long period of time it appeared that Wotton House were getting a lot of corners and throw ins from their persistent attack which was a sign that Belmont were on the ropes.
Eventually the pressure told and Michael scored again to bring the score to 3 apiece.
With the game level again the momentum seemed to be back with Wotton House. However, things quickly changed again when a Belmont player connected with an excellent header from a cross out wide. The finish was very Alan Shearer-esque.
With only 5 minutes left of the match Wotton House continued to show great resilience against adversity and started to apply more pressure on Belmont. Again, the pressure eventually told when Finn scored a wonderful goal. It appeared that time stood still when Finn composed himself, chose where he wanted to put the ball and executed it by placing the ball in the very corner of the goal giving the goalkeeper no chance of saving it. Finn was reminiscent of a young David Beckham with his precision.
With only a few minutes left of the game both teams were eager to push on and win the game. Belmont dominated the last few minutes and if it wasn’t for an excellent goal line clearance from Michael
they would have gone on to win the game. Additionally, in the final stages Wotton House were saved by the post after a Belmont player produced a great header from a cross which fortunately hit the post and bounced away from goal.
Finally, the referee blew the final whistle on what was an exhilarating and exhausting match with a 4-4 draw seeming a very fitting result as both teams played excellently and certainly didn’t deserve to lose!