SPORT
FOOTBALL Freddie Maher (Year 13)
W hen people think of Dulwich sport, it is Rugby and the ‘Dulwich Dynasty’ that immediately come to mind. However, Football at Dulwich College is increasingly becoming a powerhouse to match its more traditional counterpart. Putting on the blue and black Dulwich football shirt, whether it be the 1st XI or U12Cs, is a huge honour and privilege and many strong memories have been created as a result. The 2016-17 season has undoubtedly been our best as a year group throughout our time at Dulwich College. We began the season with a friendly against an Australian touring team. It was a great start to our last year at the College, as we came out on top with a 7-0 win. This, as well as our numerous 7am sessions, served as great preparation for our tour to Valencia. The tour was a great success – the 1st XI beat a local Spanish opposition 12-2 (Sid Shepherd scoring a hat- trick) as well as beating Epsom College 2-1. Special thanks go to Mr Scarisbrick, Mr Wood, Mr Bishop and Mr Cleary, who accompanied us on the tour and ensured that we got the best out of the training with Valencia coaches (despite enduring 50 per cent of the annual rainfall in the four days we were there!). As always, we faced Hampton in our first game of the school season. Hampton are one of the toughest opponents on our circuit and after giving away two sloppy goals in the first half and a penalty in the second, the match ended 3-1. The boys put in a brilliant performance (despite the score), which was promising for the remainder of the season. Many of the boys believe we are more of a ‘Cup team’ and our quest for silverware began against Sevenoaks School in the London Cup. We won 3-1, coming from a goal down early on. After a poor performance against Tonbridge and a very controversial loss to Sutton, when the referee gave a penalty in the last play of the game, we produced an outstanding victory against Whitgift in the next round of the Cup. Next we played Brentwood – it was a very tight game but the score ended 1-0 to Dulwich. It was another great result. We drew Highgate away in the quarter-finals of the London Cup. It was an exhilarating game that saw Dulwich fall behind twice. Highgate scored in the last minute of the game and from the restart, Dulwich drove forward and won a penalty in the last play of the game. Sam Fetherston won and converted the penalty. We went on to win 4-2 in penalties with two amazing saves from Samuel Stopford. Our next Cup game was
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