On Friday 20^th April, a team of eleven brave Hertford St Andrew footballers attended the Hope Cup final at Wodson Park. This was a particularly special occasion as it was the first time that our school entered the competition and the first time that the Hertford & Ware School Sports Partnership had held a small/rural schools cup competition.

As you will all be aware when reading previous reports, Hertford St Andrew were very successful in the earlier rounds and comfortably beat all the schools that we came up against. After such success, the team deserved their place in the final but we knew it would be against very tough opponents, Hunsdon, who have been the only school to beat us in a football match this year.

Excited and raring to go, we arrived at the venue with high levels of confidence and equal amounts of nerves. One of the most pleasing aspects of the day was the attendance of nearly all of our staff to support and lots of parents to cheer us on. After a rather nervous start, Maison launched a long ball forward and Ryan latched onto this and scored a mesmerizing overhead kick. 1-0 to us and a surprising lead. Unfortunately, this seemed to lift our opponents and they quickly took control of the game. By half time we found ourselves 4-1 behind due mainly to one player from Hunsdon who was an exceptionally gifted footballer. However, in the second half we came out with some fight and desire to improve and after being fouled, Erik took a free kick that flew into the top right hand corner which gave us some hope. The team worked extremely hard to try and get something out of the game but in the end Hunsdon were just too strong and we lost 6-2.

Regardless of the result, the whole team should be very proud of their achievement and the way that they never gave up. Reaching the final in the first ever Hope Cup is something that can never be repeated and I hope will stay as a positive memory for all of the players in years to come. Thank you all of the parents and staff that came to support us on the day as you made it a very special occasion for all of Hertford St Andrew (a special mention to Mr Puncher who took all of the photos!). I am sure that Hertford St Andrew will have many more successes in the future.