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STC C.S.S Football winners 2018
 
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Ist XI - Football Report

Tom Stewart —

1st XI - Football Report - 2018

After an impressive season last year, which saw the First XI Football team place 4th at Nationals, win the Christchurch Premier School League, and finish second in the Domestic Final, it was fair to say that the boys were fizzing for the new season. 

The season was kicked off with a strong 9-0 win over Christ's College. A flow of momentum was gained over the following weeks, as the team were scoring goals for fun while maintaining a solid defensive structure, which held tight as no goals were conceded within the first five games of the season. We were able to identify a few notable performances from the squad in the regular season, which stood out from the other results. One of these included defeating St Andrews College, the winners of the 2017 Domestic Final, by a score line of 4-0. After receiving an early red card in this game and having to play out the majority of the game with 10 St Thomas players, the boys rallied behind each other and managed to score two goals in each side of the half and concede none to take 3 points and the win. 

This inspired performance from the boys created the needed confidence before a top of the table clash against Connetics Shield holders, Burnside High School. Once again, the team were able to out-class the pacey and prolific Burnside side with a convincing score line of 3-1 to the Saints. After getting our hands on the "Ranfurly Shield of School Football", we were, unfortunately, unable to retain this until the end of the season, losing the Shield to Cashmere High School in our only loss of the season, in a narrow 2-1 defeat. This result put the St Thomas team out of pole position to retain the Christchurch Premier School League, languishing in second place as the concluding round of the competition rolled around. 

With a deciding game against Rangiora High School on the horizon, the team knew that goal differential would separate us from winning and losing the league, as we sat equal on points with Cashmere High School. After inferring the need for a substantial score line in favour of St Thomas in this final league game, the goal-hungry boys knew what needed to be done, scoring a goal every 4 minutes on average to produce an overpowering 17-0 win, setting a league record in the process. This result secured our first place status, allowing us to retain the Christchurch Premier School League for the first time in St Thomas history. We were able to finish the regular season at the top of the table, with 11 wins to 1 loss, scoring 61 goals and conceding 10 in the process. 

This, therefore, resulted in Nationals qualification as the No. 1 Seed in the Christchurch Competition. However, before the thought of the National Tournament could be considered, we faced the knockout rounds of the Domestic Competition, where we drew St Andrews College in the semi-final. For many, this fixture was seen as a bit of a grudge match, with the raw memories of a loss on penalties to St Andrews in the 2017 Final still a demon that had yet to be buried. The thought of redemption against this side allowed for the boys to come out on to the park with all guns blazing, producing a 4-0 win and concealing the painful memories for the St Thomas players and fans alike. In the other semi-final, Burnside High School prevailed over Cashmere High School in a 3-1 win, to set up for an exciting St Thomas - Burnside final. As anything concerning "Finals Footy", there was a big build-up to the game against Burnside, with a lot of publicity surrounding the fixture. As the day of the match dawned, as always, our boys didn’t fail to turn up and show their support as the stands were packed with blue blazers, loudly signing and chanting. Walking out onto the field with the sound of the St Thomas supporters chants fill the air made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and definitely putting a sense of fear and intimidation into the Burnside players. The game turned out to be a dogfight, with the St Thomas boys not able to play their style of football on the big occasion. After conceding a goal early on in the game, the team was able to keep their cool, and with the support of the loud St Thomas fans, managed to score two goals to produce a score line of 2-1 up and the halftime whistle. The second half saw us defending our lead for the majority of the play, with the boys putting their bodies on the line to continually block Burnside's attempts to level the score line. We were able to keep the ball out of the St Thomas net for the remainder of the half, with the full-time whistle as music to the ears of hundreds of St Thomas students. The conclusion of the game sent the crowd into hysteria, as the supporters jumped over the fences to add to the on-field celebrations. Lifting the trophy around the chanting boys is something I will never forget. 

Following this, we had high hopes and expectations going into the National Tournament due to the success of this year’s season and the 4th place finish from the 2017 National Tournament, knocking over some big schools and footballing powerhouses in the process. Despite this optimism, we were unfortunately unable to carry through with our expectations. We began the tournament with two losses in our first two games, losing to Westlake Boys High School and Wellington College. These results put us out of contention to qualify from our group, and we instead had to battle it out in the bottom 16 of the competition. Although immensely disappointed in this reality, we agreed that it would only be fitting to end the tournament on a positive note and place as high as possible. We were unable to make achieve this aim, however, losing to St Peters College of Auckland in the Bowl Final, placing 17th overall. 

This meant for a disappointing end to an otherwise great season, with so many accomplishments and silverware, including the Christchurch Premier School League Trophy, the Domestic Final Trophy and the Brentwood Challenge Trophy. Throughout this exciting season, we have been fortunate enough to have trained every week on the AstroTurf at the Christchurch Football Academy. We were able to build a great relationship with the coaches at the Academy, with their support in technical analysis to help us strive for improvement in our game. This strong link to the Christchurch Football Academy means for a positive outlook for St Thomas Football and for the development of our future First XI players. The Soccer Shop have been generous enough to be a sponsor to this year's team. We have been fortunate enough to receive a range of training gear from them this year, as they have also been one of our shirt sponsors on our playing kit. 

We would like to extend our thanks to Mr Washington, Mr Allen and Mr Scaden, for the countless hours they have spent planning and organising throughout the season. Additionally, we would like to give a huge thanks to our unique and fantastic support, which we were lucky to receive from endless numbers of students who turned up each week to represent the red, blue, and yellow. There is almost no doubt that without this massive level of support, we would have been unable to achieve some of the things that we did this year. As this season has come to an end, we must farewell the First XI Year 13’s of Treye Butler, Finian Claude, and Anton Smail. Treye has been an integral member of the First XI since he was a Year 10, and has scored over 100 goals during his four years in the team. Finian, on the other hand, was a late addition to the squad, making his debut for the First XI halfway through 2017. He has been an essential part of the defensive line and has had to battle through injury, notably dislocating his shoulder in the act of winning a penalty at last year's National Tournament, showing his dedication to the team. Anton has been in and out of the squad over the years but was able to prove his worth at the 2017 National Tournament, famously stepping in as goalkeeper to save two penalties to send the team through to the semi-final of the competition and secure a National Top 4 finish. We wish you three boys the best in your endeavours after school.