The Chronicle

Crackley Hall’s U11 and U9 Football teams travelled to Kidderminster on Tuesday 12 November to the Wyre Forest Leisure Centre to take part in the ISA Midlands Junior Boys 5-a-side Football competition.

The U11 boys played superbly, showing an impeccable attitude throughout the day and admirable character. During the morning group phase, the team battled to third place in their group which qualified them for the quarter-finals of the Cup. At one stage, they had lost two matches in a row, so to stand a chance of qualifying, their task was to win their remaining matches. They achieved this through grit, determination and some outstanding team play; eventually finishing with four wins and two losses. 

In the quarter-final, they played the strongest placed team in Group A who had won all six of their first-round matches, conceding only two goals. Despite dominating the match, and creating almost all of the goal-scoring opportunities, Crackley Hall found themselves 2-0 down with just one minute to go. Somehow, they managed to dig deep, scoring two last gasp goals to force the game to extra time and penalties. Agonisingly, they then lost the penalty shoot-out 5-4 and were unable to progress to the semi-finals.

Team coach, Rich Stedeford, was delighted with the team’s performance, commenting, “Despite the penalty shoot-out disappointment, this group of boys should be highly commended for the way they performed. They were quite clearly one of the strongest teams at the event but more importantly, they showed an exemplary attitude, working beautifully as a team all day. These players all have a bright sporting future.”

Crackley Hall’s U9 team had a tricky start to the tournament, despite some very close games.  After the initial round they went forward to the plate competition and from there they were unstoppable. The team then played another four games winning them all well before beating Stafford Prep 4-1 in the semi-finals and then St Joseph’s 2-0 in the final.  

Deputy Head, Duncan Cottrill, commented “The boys played very well on the day and didn’t look in any trouble once the plate competition started.  I was extremely proud of the way they bounced back from some opening defeats; they showed great character and thoroughly deserved the win in the final.”