Beacon played against Grace Academy on the 19th of June. The game started off with K. Jacques scoring first for Beacon and the score was 1-0. However, Grace Academy came back in the first half and the half ended 5-1 to Grace Academy.
But it was not over…
The second half started and Beacon were not ready to give up. Within 2 minutes, Beacon found the back of the net through C. Turner and the score was now 5-2. With Beacon’s pressure building on Grace Academy, the come back was on. With 20 minutes left to go, Beacon found the net again through the right foot of R. Cooper. The Beacon lads were coming back with a vengeance. Time was running out and Grace were still ahead by 2 goals, so Beacon with relentless pressure, managed to find the Back of the net yet again!
This relentless pressure paid off as C. Turner found the back of the net yet again and the players were full of excitement and determination to claw this back. One more goal would send the game to penalties. Unthinkably, late in the game, Grace Academy found a new sense of purpose and piled on the pressure. However, with the strong back line of K. Shergill, A. Hadley, J. Gillon and R. Silver, they were able to quickly put a stop to each attack.
In the dying minutes of the game, K. Jacques won a penalty and this was the chance Beacon needed to send the game to penalties. Calm and composed, C. Turner stepped up to the challenge and smoothly slotted the ball in the back of the net, to tie the game and secure his hat trick.
We had made it to penalties. The order was chosen and Beacon were confident they could secure the victory.
Beacon took their first penalty and the hat trick hero stepped up to the spot. Without any doubt, C. Turner put Beacon up 1-0. The pressure was on Grace and Barr Beacon pupils put faith in S. Bushell who stepped up as GK for the penalties. Unfortunately, with a diving effort, the ball slipped through the tip of his fingers. The score was now 1-1. S. chahal stepped up next and calmly put it past Grace Academy’s keeper to take us to 2-1. The pressure was back on Grace’s number 10 and as he stepped up, S. Bushell pushed it around the post giving the advantage to Beacon. The score was still 2-1. A. Hussain stepped up next to try and give Beacon a bigger advantage. However, with a diving effort from the keeper he saved the shot and this gave Grace the opportunity to get back into the shoot-out. Their winger stepped up and smashed it into the bottom left corner, making the score 2-2. We were down to the last 2 penalty takers from each team and the next penalty was taken by K. Shergill. With a nonchalant walk up to the ball he calmly slotted it into the back of the net. The score was now 3-3 and Beacon had the chance to win the game. The pressure was rising and Grace wanted to win the game with the next 2 penalties. The captain stepped up and put it past S. Bushell to level to score and put the pressure on our next penalty taker. K. Jacques stepped up to take the final kick for Beacon and there was nothing but composure. With a powerful strike, Kai slotted the ball into the bottom right corner giving Graces goalkeeper no chance to get down to the ball. The final result on penalties was 4-3 and Barr Beacon were champions!!!
