Strand Premier League Stars
This Thursday our Year 5/6 A team footballers represented Hounslow in the Premier League Primary Stars Championships at Gunnersbury Park. Having made it to the finals of the Borough tournament last term, along with Oak Hill Academy, they were selected to represent Hounslow in the Championships against five other schools across Hillingdon and Richmond.
Out of the six schools, Strand ended up in second position from the group stages after scoring 9 goals in total - winning three, against St. Mary’s Hampton, Chase Bridge and East Sheen, drawing against Heathfield Juniors and only losing against Oak Hill Academy. In the knockout stage Strand faced and defeated Chase Bridge for the second time, ending on a score of 3-0, taking us into the final.
Coincidentally, or not, our final opponents were Oak Hill yet again. After losing to them 3-1 in the Borough finals and 3-1 in the group stages we were so determined to win this time. With Oak Hill being the clear favourites, Strand were determined to change the outcome of this final. We decided to change our formation and tactics from possession-based football to counter attacking football. The team fully understood the task and Ranveer opened the scoring within the first five minutes. The next five minutes was all about hanging on for the win, with an amazing defensive display from Supo, Zubeyr, Charlie and Jake. In the final minute Oliver decided against holding the ball in the corner and cut inside to seal a 2-0 victory. There was complete elation when the whistle was blown, and not just on the pitch. Back at school, both children and staff were buzzing as the news quickly spread.
Out of hundreds of schools, Strand can now look forward to playing at a Premier League stadium, representing Brentford against 19 schools representing the other Premier League teams across the country. This is both a massive honour and a great achievement - the PE team and everyone at Strand are all so proud of the team. We are so excited and can’t wait to see the team play at a Premier League stadium in the summer term. Since September the PE team had their sights set on getting to this point, and it really shows that the hard work and determination from the children and the PE team has paid off. Huge well done to all the team - Zubeyr, Sebastian, Supo, Jake, Charlie, Oliver, James and Ranveer.