News

For a few months now, Mr Wallace has written weekly summaries of our students' sporting adventures and made them available to Dane Court staff. They are always full of detail and capture the highlights of some exciting clashes. Here is the first of those roundups to be made available to everyone.

 

The U15 A team competed against St George's on Monday night and were to battle out a seven goal thriller. A poor first half performance saw them 1-2 down at half time after they had taken the lead through an own goal. An improved opening ten minutes would see them quickly take a 3-2 lead with goals from Alfie Paxman and Todd Jordan before poor defending at a set piece saw St George's draw level again. The final and deciding goal was scored by Dan Adams from the penalty spot after a push on James Mileham by the opposition goal keeper.

Wednesday would prove to be a dramatic day in the Kent Cup for both the U14 Girls and the Senior Boys. Despite two very well taken goals from Morgan Theodosiou and a battling performance the Girls interest in the competition came to an end after a 2-5 defeat to Dover Grammar. The Senior Boys found themselves up against the Towers School from Ashford, who, like our Kent Cup Final opponents last year, are a football Academy. Their crisp passing and comfort on their ball reflected this but in the first half they rarly troubled George Day in goal and Dane Court fashioned four good chances to take the lead. Half time and there was certainly the potential to claim the victory as the Seniors seek to defend the Kent Cup they won last year. The second half exploded into life as a break down the right found Harvey Colston in the penalty, jinking past one defender and finding space to dispatch a shot into the bottom corner for a deserved 1-0 lead. Towers response was swift and decisive and aided by a reshuffle in the Dane Court defence after an injury to Eli Votta. A fine through ball found the Towers striker who showed good composure to level the score at 1-1. Dane Court immediately responded with a number of incisive attacks, the decisive one seeing Colston felled in the penalty area and a spot kick awarded. Minutes passed as the decision was debated and mind games ensued but Luke Dawson stepped up to calmly dispatch the penalty. What occurred for the remaining twenty minutes can only be described as a heroic defence of the lead as Towers attacked with vigour and intent but the wall of resistance remained strong. Epitomised by Dan Reeves' willingness to take a boot to the head in his brave defence of the goal, when the opposition did break through they failed to breach the composed and efficient final barrier in the shape of George Day. After what felt an age the final whistle blew and a fatigued team claimed the first victory of what what all hope and dream will be a successful title defence. The next round takes place on Saturday 10th November at Dane Court with a 10.00am Kick off against Hayes, the boys would love to see you there!

On Thursday the U16 Boys traveled to the Isle of Sheppey Academy to contest a Kent Cup first round tie. An excellent all round team performance deserved better than the 1-3 reverse which was suffered but there is losing and there is losing, this defeat was of the positive kind. A hard working, committed and at times highly effective team performance was one to be proud of and the boys can take much confidence from it. Being a goal down at half time, a swift riposte was necessary in the second half and it came via 0-1 what must already be considered one of the goals of the season. A flowing move from the middle of their own half was initiated by James Peskett and saw five players and as many passes involved before the same player rifled the ball into the roof of the net. Despite controlling the game from then on two late goals saw the team finish the game disappointed but proud of a very good performance.

Thursday also saw the U13, U14, U15 and U16 Netball teams competing against Charles Dickens and a clean sweep of victories were achieved. The U13 won 21-5, the U14 26-8, the U15 46-7 and the U16 34-9. These results were achieved by excellent team play and showed the cohesive nature of the squads that has developed from regular club attendance. In breezy conditions the Shooters in all games performed particularly well as is reflected in the scorelines. The U14 and U13 teams dominated their opposition by moving the ball with excellent passages of play and superb team work. Our two senior teams displayed confidence and good tactical awareness throughout with Ellen Whitehead and Poppy Attwell-Bushell being the dominant players in the Year 10 and Charlotte Tonkiss the pulsating heartbeat of the the Year 11 side. Well done to all for excellent all round performances.