Brentwoodian 2019

62 The 5th XI had an eventful year which began with an unfortunate 4-0 loss to a much stronger Old Brentwoods team. The team bounced back with a skilful 3-2 win against Bede’s school, with convincing performances from Will Everest and Tom Mitchell helping to secure an important win early on in the season. Unfortunately, this incredible win was short-lived despite great team spirit, with back-to-back losses against Whitgift and Highgate, even though we scored in both games. However, we had a turnaround in our season. We were undefeated in three games (including a 4-2 win against Tonbridge) and during this period James Davey really showed his skill. Mr Mickleburgh was also a key figure with his tactical game really progressing throughout the season. Our form throughout the rest of the season was intermittent, with losses against Westminster and Wilson’s School, including a 9-0 loss against Wilson’s. Two wins shortly followed, with games ending 2-1 in both instances against Bedford Modern and St Columba’s, due to strong performances from the team, with special mention to Adam Salter and Alshariff Sharief. We finished the season with four losses against strong teams, including the Old Brentwoods’ team, who used several members of our team to make up the numbers. Overall, the season had a lot of ups and downs but the team has learnt a lot and become much more skilled and we have all enjoyed being a part of such a charismatic team. By James Davey FIFTH XI The 2018/19 season could be known as the season that got away. Before the season started, we were very enthusiastic, knowing we were entered in three cups and a league, one of which that we most looked forward to being the ISFA cup; in past seasons we have done very well in progressing to later rounds of the competition. However, out of the four, the one in which we performed best was the Elgin league, reaching the semi-final where we came up against Bradfield, who had a rather sizeable crowd and who at some points during the match were off-putting. Unfortunately one of our star players, Jacob Knightbridge, missed many games this year due to injury and his commitments with West Ham United, although he came through when needed, playing amazingly well, as well as getting his call-up for England because of his exceptional ball control, shot stopping and communication out on the field. Throughout the season we were clinical in the final third and so defending was often unneeded, one of our strikers being Joel Winter with 26 goals in 29 matches. We are very grateful to have had Mr Wignall as our coach this year, as well as Mr Miller and Mr Porter who helped us along the way, teaching us to play more intelligent football. By Jem Ozkoch U15 A U15 B Coach 'Doc' Dingwell is the coach to the 2018/19 U15Bs as Pep Guardiola is to Manchester City. He forged a team of skill and determination with a great team spirit and a really strong desire to have fun, which we did most weeks, often to his exasperation. Doc must have done something right because we finished with 15 wins, 3 losses and 2 draws in the regular season and we made it to the semi-finals of the England National Schools’ B team Cup, losing out to last year’s finalists Hampton School. A fantastic achievement given the injuries picked up over a long winter. So on to the squad. I can’t mention everyone but this was a squad full of characters in which everyone played a part - from the goalkeeper to rampaging full-backs, my partners at centre-back and the tireless midfielders playing balls to the wingers and strikers. Talking of centre-backs Harrison Hooker deserves mention not only for his 10 goals as a centre-back but for not getting sent off given his “all in” approach to tackling. Elliot Gravett was the leading goal scorer with some diamonds shots. Gene Watts gets a special mention as the most prolific long shot taker and, finally, Alex Haward for some truly special free kicks in the Cup semi-final. A great season, a great coach and, most importantly, great friends. By Matthew James