Boys' 1st XI v Wellington College

Tuesday 2nd February at Home on the Waterbased. 4.30pm meet for a 5.15pm start

S.Attwood, J.Williams, M.Dewis, A.Clarke-Dowson, D.Blackwood, C.Twigg, M.Pearse, M.Guest, W.Byas, L.Samra (Capt.), L.Watton, G.Osborne, R.Ho Chan, S.Mullen, H.Rees-Jones 

Unavailable - N.Reineke, A.Roseanu, J.Golding

Repton 3 - 1 Wellington (Watton (F),(F), Ho Chan (F))

Match Report:   This was a re-arranged Boarding Schools Cup fixture from the second week of term which saw Wellington visiting Repton for the first time.  Knowing nothing about Wellington, the hope was that the boys would impose themselves on the opposition from the first whistle but unfortunately they were sloppy in the early exchanges.  Poor passing and too many cheap turnovers meant that the game was end to end and Repton were grateful to Stephen Attwood in goal who made a couple of important blocks. 

The second half saw a much-improved Repton performance.  On numerous occasions the ball was fizzed around with much more purpose and this started to stretch the Wellington defence which, in the first half, had held together well.  Steve Mullen and Leo Watton played an important role in this.  Unfortunately, the final pass was still lacking and it was Wellington who took the lead with a fine solo goal.   With recent form in mind I feared the worst as this group had struggled to maintain their calmness when going behind so far.  Fortunately, tonight, this was not the case and it was Ricky Ho Chan who equalised with a close-range finish before Will Byas burst through to set-up Leo Watton who fired high into the net.  Leo completed the scoring after following up his own rebound.

This was a confidence-boosting win, and another small step forward, for a team who have been way off their best in the first half of term.  There is an awful lot more potential here and I hope that it can be realised in the second half of term.