A second shot at a place in the final of the Playstation Schools Football National Cup ended in despair yesterday, as Malet Lambert School Year 10 team were pipped to the post for a second year running.
Last February, the team of boys from East Hull sailed through to the semi-finals of the national competition before losing to Honley School from Huddersfield.
This year, they hoped to go one further and make it to the finals, held at Wembley – but Liverpool side St Margaret’s kept them from their dream, beating them 2-1.
The game started favourably and was back and forth early on, with Malet getting the first opportunity as Luke Glover headed an early corner just over the bar.
Jacob Dale-Todd then found space on the left wing and crossed for Josh Drury, whose volley was blocked well by the defender to deflect it wide.
St Margaret’s then managed to get a good foothold in the game and caused problems for Malet with speedy counter attacks. They created a strong chance that hit the cross bar, forcing a good save from goalkeeper Adam Shimmin.
St Margaret’s took the lead on the half hour mark with a stunning strike from 35 yards that sailed over the keeper’s head and went in off the crossbar. The score was 1-0 at half time.
Malet came out revitalised in the second half but still failed to connect with several dangerous crosses into the box.
The visitors doubled their lead with 20 mins remaining in an unfortunate fashion, when a well-struck free kick hit the crossbar before rebounding off goal keeper Adam Shimmin’s back and into the net.
Malet now had to throw caution to the wind to try and get back into the game. They were rewarded when a long ball from the keeper turned the St Margaret’s defence around, with Jacob Dale-Todd showing good strength to hold off the defender before calmly slotting it home.
Malet continued to push forward, desperate to find the equaliser, but strong defence from the visiting team meant that their best chance came in the form of a free kick from goal scorer Jacob Dale-Todd, which flashed just wide past the keeper.
Despite an outstanding and heartfelt performance from Malet, the game finished 2-1 to St Margaret’s.
Goal scorer Jacob Dale-Todd, 15, felt the team gave it their best shot and that St Margaret’s were a worthy side.
He said, “They deserved their win. We had a few good chances to pull it back and win, but we could have used them better.
“I think we put 100% into our performance today and gave it our all - but there’s always room for improvement. Mr Ripley is a fantastic coach. He’s looked after us since Year 7 and kept us in good shape.
“Hopefully, we’ll make the final next year. We’d love to win the national cup - it’s what we’ve aimed for as a team since Year 7 and we’d like to see it happen before we leave school.”
The boys saw a setback last Friday when team captain and striker, Billy Chadwick, 15, tore a crutiate ligament during training. He is now on the bench until Christmas.
Team coach and Head of PE, Andrew Ripley, has been with the boys every step of the way and feels the loss as keenly as they do.
“I’m very proud of them – they battled really hard and were beaten by a very good side.
“We actually played St Margaret’s in Year 7 and beat them in a tight game. Today was their revenge, in a way.
“It was a tough match and even after all the hard work since September, we didn’t quite do enough to win the game.
“I think Billy being out has brought the team closer together - they’ve put in that extra bit of effort.
“You’re always going to miss a player of Billy’s quality, but I thought they did knuckle down as a team to try and get to the final for themselves and for Billy.
“They can bounce back from this and they’ve got another chance next year before they leave Malet.
“After their hat-trick of wins in local cup titles last year, I’m pretty confident they’ll make it to the finals this season. That’s what we’re focusing on now.
“If they reach the final of the Hull Cup, that will be played at the KC stadium which would be a nice reward for all their hard work.”