On Tuesday, Carisbrooke College took part in an additional football tournament to ensure more of our students had the opportunity to represent their school in tournament-style football this season. 

Carisbrooke took two teams over to the competition. Our Carisbrooke Rappers (named due to Freddie's not so good rapping on the team bus) team was made up of Harry, Ayrton, William, Freddie, Finley and Jayden.  In their first match, they took on Priory.  Starting positively, the boys created many opportunities which eventually led to Freddie slotting home a quick brace for his side.  Priory responded well, scoring with a minute left, but the boys held on for a well-earned victory.  In their next two matches, the boys continued with good play and very good defending from Ayrton and some quality saves from Harry.  Jayden was all over the park putting in tackles and creating space for his teammates and Finley, Freddie and William were always a threat further up field. However, in their second match, Cowes took the lead against the run of play and, despite Finley having a chance late on to tie, the time just ran out on the boys.  In their third game against Christ The King, there were few chances at either end, but Jayden struck one of the shots of the night with a half-volley from distance which looked like flying in the top corner only for him to swing away at the last moment and strike the upright to leave the game to finish at 0-0.  In their fourth and final match against Ryde, the boys were up against a very good side.  Despite Ryde scoring three quick goals, the boys never stopped going and, just like all school football games should be, they kept on playing as if someone had shouted last goal wins.  In the last few moments of the game, Carisbrooke applied the pressure and when Jayden made a great tackle on a player who was slow to clear his lines, the ball broke to Finley, who smashed home in style.  The final score was 3-1 to Ryde, but the boys had proven how well they had battled all evening.  Well done Rappers, you did us proud.  Player of the tournament for the Rappers was Jayden due to his never-say-die attitude.  Well done also to Harry for keeping in difficult conditions, Ayrton for his defensive prowess, Freddie for creativity in the middle, Finley for his constant 100% effort and William for his team spirit and positional play throughout.

The second of our teams was the Carisbrooke on Fire (named due to the celebrations on the way home in which Jake repeated the song from Lake all the way back to the Castle) and was made up of Jake, Cam, Serhildan, Thomas and Harry.  In their first game against The Bay, the boys hit the ground running, quickly putting together some quick passing and creating opportunities from all angles. However, with this type of play, you always leave yourself vulnerable to openings for the opposition, but with Jake on form in goal, it gave the lads confidence to keep playing with style.  Eventually, the boys broke the deadlock thanks to a goal from Harry and then, when Serhildan slotted home towards the end of the game, the boys had won their first game. As the boys then took on both Cowes and Christ The King, Jake continued to be the keeper in form, preventing anything from breaching his goal line.  The outfield players continued to defend with confidence, especially in Cam, who was like a Rolls Royce moving as though he was floating across the pitch and quickly turning defence into attack. With Harry and Thomas moving the ball from one side of the pitch to the other and Serhildan making runs through the middle, it was only a matter of time before the goals began to flow and against Cowes, Serhildan bagged himself two more for the tournament against Christ The king Serhildan powered another goal home and when Harry confidently took his chance both games ended with 2-0 victories for Carisbrooke. In their final game, Thomas put in a strong defensive performance to support Cam and although Ryde were able to finally get one past Jake, Jake again kept the boys in the game with multiple saves.  They kept on pushing and eventually Serhildan banged in his fifth of the night and when Cam calmly took his chance to give the boys a 2-1 win, Carisbrooke Fire were simply on fire and finished the tournament unbeaten. Serhildan was emphatic going forward all night, Harry and Thomas came as a duo which no other team seemed to be able to work out and Cam made the game look so easy throughout, but player of the tournament for the Fire was Jake who, considering the wet conditions, was simply Gordon Banks in disguise. 

Well done boys, you were a pleasure as always and represented the school with pride.

Thank you to The Bay for hosting and Mr Johnson, Mr Bricknell for running the tournament and Mr Day and Mr Harris for planning the event. Definitely a keeper for future years.