Ms Abdalla’s PE Blog

SOUTH-EAST SUSSEX SCHOOLS DIVISION 1 FINAL

EASTBOURNE TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

VS

WILLIAM PARKER SPORTS COLLEGE

THE OVAL,

EASTBOURNE UNITED ASSOCIATION FC,

CHANNEL VIEW ROAD,

BN22 7LN.

FRIDAY 1ST MAY 2009

4:30PM KICK OFF

ETC Vs Thomas Peacocke (Rye)

On a bright, but very windy day, ETC travelled to Bexhill to play Thomas Peacocke. With several players unavailable, debuts were given to Kevin Ortega and Martyn Cleveland, as well as a change in formation to 4-4-2.

ETC started brightly and Reece Collymore played some good passes out wide to Dan Bazley, Aaron Saunders and through to Ortega, but the wind made it difficult to control the ball and many attacks failed without the final shot being taken.  After 10 minutes the breakthrough came, but it was Thomas Peacocke who scored when a through ball exposed ETC’s flat back four and their striker scored past Josh Coney.  It was soon 2-0 when a corner was not cleared.  ETC did not let their heads drop and a great ball by Lee Schooling released Ortega and he beat a defender before lobbing the goalkeeper to make it 2-1.  Some good defending was required by Matt Castle to keep the score at 2-1, but with 5 minutes to go in the first half, poor marking from an ETC goal kick led to Peacocke making it 3-1.  In the final minute of the half Coney was called into action and saved two good shots to keep ETC in with a chance at half time.

The players were reminded of some basic defending skills at half time along with Cleveland replacing Saunders.  It immediately paid dividends as Cleveland crossed for Ortega to score his second with a great header. Just two minutes later, ETC equalised when Schooling’s strike from 20 yards was deflected into the corner of the net.  ETC kept the pressure up, and Collymore saw a great volley hit the crossbar.  Halfway through the second half, ETC took the lead for the first time when another cross by Cleveland was turned in at the near post by Andrew Swansborough. 4-3 up!  This seemed to wake Peacocke up, and immediately ETC came under intense pressure.  However the backline of Tobias Ekroth-Smith, Callum Langford, Cane Stolton and Castle kept out the physically strong attackers.  They held on until 5 minutes before the end of the game when Peacocke equalised.  With extra time looming, Schooling made a great run through the middle and lobbed the keeper from 25 yards and into the back of the net.  Unfortunately this was ruled out by a linesman’s flag, and the game did indeed go to extra time.

In extra time, it seemed ETC had run out of energy and Peacocke struck once in the first period and twice in the second to make the score a flattering 7-4 after extra time to take home the trophy.

ETC should remain proud that they reached the Cup Final in their first year at ETC, and I look forward to more success next year.

Squad: Josh Coney, Tobias Ekroth-Smith, Callum Langford, Matt Castle, Cane Stolton, Aaron Saunders (Martyn Cleveland), Lee Schooling, Reece Collymore, Daniel Bazley, Andrew Swansborough, Kevin Ortega.
MOM: Too many to mention!

Mr. Moore.