Our school football teams started the season with two absorbing friendly matches against our strong neighbours, St John Fisher (who will undoubtedly be one of the top footballing schools over the course of the coming season!) The ‘A’ team match was well contested throughout, with Robbie playing a commanding role just in front of Max, and Ben (this season’s team captain) leading by example. The whole team were a credit to the school despite losing out narrowly by two goals to one, with Tom scoring for Skyswood. The St John Fisher team also had a strong Skyswood connection, with Mrs McVeigh’s triplets, James, Thomas and John, all featuring in the St John Fisher team this season.
It is a tribute to the quality of football at both schools that the ‘B’ team fixture felt more like a top quality match between two school ‘A’ teams! Daniel scored an amazing four goals in our 5-2 victory but St John Fisher were again very strong and the game was much tighter than the scoreline suggests, although it has to be said that St John Fisher’s second half goalie, Sophie, performed heroics in the St John Fisher goal. Adam made a confident ‘goalkeeping debut’ for Skyswood, with Aaron and Louis tenacious in defence and Adam playing an outstanding game in midfield and having a hand in all of our goals. George also showed incredible speed and skill, and was denied on two occasions by two fantastic saves. St John Fisher took the lead in the first half, but our captain, Louis equalised within a minute. Daniel then scored a first half hat-trick to make it 4-1 at half-time. St John Fisher came back well in the second half and reduced the deficit, but Daniel rounded the game off with a simple tap in after Sophie had made yet another splendid save.