The Year 5 football team welcomed visitors from Ottershaw School.

The pitch was wet and soft after heavy rain, but fortunately there was no standing water on the field. The match got off to a lively start with Marc and Harry having to make some good tackles and Finn some good saves to prevent Ottershaw taking the lead. The closest St Hugh’s came to scoring in the first half were when Daniel was twice denied - once from a long range free kick saved by the goalkeeper and once when the last defender made an excellent last-ditch tackle to prevent Daniel running through one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Ottershaw came close to scoring when a shot hit the crossbar, but at half-time the score was 0-0.

Early in the second half Ottershaw took the lead when an excellent cross from the right was met with a firm header at the far post, giving Finn no chance. After this, Ottershaw had other chances, including one shot against a post, and another header from which Finn made a fine fingertip save. Although all the St Hugh’s players tried very hard to find an equaliser and forced some corners, they struggled to create any real chances and to test the visiting goalkeeper.

On the day, the better side won - it was thanks to some excellent defending and goalkeeping that the margin was just 1-0.

The team will look forward to playing again in the new year.

The squad was: Finn, Ethan, Daniel, Victor, Noah, Fiach, Marc, Harry, Jacob.