Congratulations to our Lacrosse 1st XI, who successfully defeated TASIS 9-6, with M Lidbetter securing the Man of the Match award. We look forward to playing TASIS again next week in the away leg.
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All fixtures tomorrow have been cancelled due to the bad weather.
Congratulations to everyone involved.
The 1st XI won a remarkable game against John Madejski Academy today in extra time 3 - 2! They are now set to play Reading Blue Coat in the County Cup Final after the Easter Holidays and it is expected to be close, with their last meeting in the league on the 2nd of March resulting in a 2 - 2 draw.
5th March 2016 (Lost 5 - 1)
Reading took an early lead in the game, by playing some high tempo passing football. Peter Isaksen created a yard of space in a packed 18 yard box, allowed him to find the top left with a curling effort. It remained 1-0 until the last 5 minutes of the first half when Abingdon scored two quick goals, capitalising on errors from Reading. In the second half, both sides played counter attacking football, with Abingdon being able to convert their chances, whilst Reading perhaps tried to do too much with the ball. A big improvement from last weeks game against Bluecoat, which is needed, as a Cup Fixture with Easthampstead Park looms. 10th March 2016 (Lost 6 - 1) Reading started brightly playing some attractive possession football, creating early chances, but not capitalising on their dominance. However Easthampstead Park responded by playing some high pressure defence and some excellent counter attacking football. It wasn't until late in the second half, once the game was beyond us, that once again we managed to play possession football creating chances and finally taking one of them. 12th March 2016 (Lost 5 - 1) Although the score line wasn't flattering this was by far the best performance of the season. 4-0 down at half time, the team continued to try to play possession football, but increase their intensity without the ball. This resulted in a 1-1 draw in the second half and creating many chances to score and perhaps level the game if those chances had been taken. Many parents commented how good the football being played was and how much progress had been made since the beginning of Year 7. Hopefully we can take this performance into the last game of the season. The 1st XI and 2nd XI fixtures are taking place as planned. An additional fixture between the Reading School 3rd XI and 4th XI teams will also take place, with kick off at 14:30 at Morgan Road.
On a very cold Saturday morning the boys turned up ready to play against a 10 man Abingdon School who were let down by four of their players. Things took a turn for the worse for Abingdon as an A team player became injured and so a B team member was called up forcing them to play with 9. This only affected their fitness in the long term as what seemed to be a smaller pitch played into their hands.
Reading started well with some good movement and a real intent to attack. Sammith Raj was extremely dangerous down the left wing causing a lot of trouble for opposite numbers but was unlucky not to get that final pass or shot away to trouble the keeper. Our defence stood very strong with Adam Ianev leading the charge and making sure no man shall pass, with the ball at least, and cleared effectively alongside Ben Harrison. THe defence also including Jake Melhuish and Nikhil Shabong had a bit of a tough day at the office with Abingdon having some very fast attackers - pretty much playing a 4 in D 4 in attack formation. Coming up to half time there was not much difference between the teams with a couple of missed chances on both sides. Scott Hogbin showing his pace on a number of occasions tended to just be outmuscled just before he could get a shot away. The defining moment from the half came as an Abindgon high cross wasn't cleared by the defence or collected by goal keeper Shivesh Mistry and the towering Abingdon striker managed to get a foot to the ball and put it in the bottom left corner. 1-0 at half time. The second half the Reading boys went out with a lot of attacking intent. Scott Hogbin and Tony Xu led the attack extremely well. Well placed long balls and quick counters meant the two attackers had a lot of time on the ball but were still unable to get those shots on goal as Abingdon showed incredible determination to make it back to defend. Abingdon showed signs of tiring but instead of being unable to keep up with play they became more physical in the tackles and Reading boys weren't quite able to deal with this in attack. In defence for Reading the boys held on very well as Abingdon tried to counter attack at every opportunity. In the end an exhausted Abingdon held on for the win with Readings closest opportunity coming from Tony Xu who hit the ball 20m out but unfortunately it wasn't quite able to dip enough into the goal and just scraped over the top of the crossbar. A really well fought game by two teams but just that inability to shoot on goal and not always willing to take that shot until comfortable is costing a very good Reading School B team a chance of winning games. It was a cold morning but we all were excited for the game and it came!
I decided to face this game including a new offensive structure and Sutton starded as LW. Ed Prestley was responsible to defend the left side. We started the game and while we were still thinking about "where am I playing", they scored two goals, mins 2 and 5. The boys were a bit sad, heads down and hand in their pockets. However, the real captain was there - Hilary Lunn brought positive spirit and the boys started to change the game style, with strong midfield, Cheeseman dominating it, Tom Jordan creating opportunities and finally scoring; the goals all came in the first half, Toby Cheng (10' and 17') and Tom Jordan (28'). Great first half, tiki taka style using the wings and playing our football. For the second half, Alex Sutton went to the LB, Eriq Moeloeck started as LW and the captain went off, being replaced by James Norgate. The first 10' minutes were unfortunately not the best for us, they scored two more goals (5' and 9') and after that we lost the focus, we couldn't control the midfield and we lost the possession. We had two clear thirds of the pitch defending and attacking, but not clear channels in the middle. It was a close game and all of us enjoyed it! Great thanks for all the parents that came to support the team. Block Fixture: Saturday 5th March 2016 - Matches vs. Abingdon School
Senior Block Fixture: Wednesday 2nd March 2016 - Matches vs. Reading Blue Coat School
The matches against Forest School this week have been postponed - hopefully, it will be possible to rearrange these fixtures for later this term.
Block Fixture: Saturday 27th February 2016 - Matches vs. Reading Blue Coat School
* No bus transport is provided for this fixture to away matches. The meet time specified for away fixtures is the meet time at Reading Blue Coat School.
Senior Block Fixture: Wednesday 24th February 2016 - Matches vs. Shiplake College
Provisional Cricket Fixtures for next term can now be seen below. All of these are yet to be confirmed, and Cup draws have not yet been released. Additional fixtures and details may be added at a later date - a further update on these should be available a couple of weeks into next half term.
County Cup Round 2 Fixture: Tuesday 9th February 2016 - Match vs. Trinity School
Block Fixture: Wednesday 10th February 2016 - Matches vs. Oratory School
County Cup Round 2 Fixture: Thursday 11th February 2016 - Match vs. The Downs School
Block Fixture: Saturday 6th February 2016 - Matches vs. Holyport College
On Wednesday and Thursday, the 3rd XI, 4th XI, U15B, U14B, U13B and U12B were all given the opportunity to play their first matches of the season. The 3rd XI narrowly defeated the Strawberries (4th XI) 2 - 1 on Wednesday with a penalty. Meanwhile, the U14B team created an upset by winning against a strong U15A squad 3 - 2 in a thrilling match. Finally, the U12B and U13B teams competed in an outstanding match, with the U13B squad ultimately winning 5 - 2.
Due to the poor weather and pitch conditions at the moment, fixtures may be cancelled at short notice. County Cup Round 3 Fixture: Wednesday 3rd February 2016 - Match vs. Park House
Senior Fixture: Wednesday 3rd February 2016 - Match vs. Langley Academy
County Cup Round 2 Fixture: Wednesday 3rd February 2016 - Match vs. Edgbarrow School
County Cup Round 2 Fixture: Wednesday 3rd February 2016 - Match vs. Emmbrook School
Intra-School Match: Wednesday 3rd February 2016 The match is scheduled to commence at 14:15. 3rd XI vs. 4th XI Intra-School Matches: Thursday 4th February 2016 Both matches start immediately after school. U15B vs. U14B U13B vs. U12B Invitational Cup Round 1 Fixture: Friday 5th February 2016 - Match vs. Upton Court Grammar
The recent poor pitch and weather conditions has resulted in several fixture cancellations. Therefore, several cup matches have been rearranged for the week ahead. Eleven matches have been arranged, and seven of these are taking place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Unfortunately, all matches this Wednesday and Thursday have been cancelled due to the poor weather and pitch conditions.
It is hoped that the scheduled games on Saturday will go ahead as planned - more information will be available over the coming few days. Please note that the following fixtures may be cancelled at short notice if the pitches become unplayable. Senior Block Fixture: Wednesday 27th January 2016 - Matches vs. Forest School
County Cup Round 2 Fixture: Thursday 28th January 2016 - Match vs. Trinity School
A series of Pre-Season Cricket training sessions will be taking place this half term. All sessions will be taking place in the Gym at Lunchtime (13:20). All of the sessions are open to all year groups. The following is a list of upcoming sessions:
Full Winter Nets will begin after Half term - more information will be given during the sessions listed above.
Block Fixture: Saturday 23rd January - Matches vs. Dr Challoners Unfortunately, all fixtures on Saturday against Dr Challoners have now been cancelled.
The next fixture for each team is available on the Fixtures page. Unfortunately, the away pitches cannot be used for this weekend's fixtures. Therefore, the majority of fixtures that were originally scheduled have now been cancelled. Currently, it is expected that the U14A, U13A and U12A teams will be able to play against Dr Challoners on home pitches on Saturday. However, these new arrangements are provisional - confirmation that these matches are going ahead should be available on Friday. Unfortunately, the U16A, U15A, U15B, U14B, U13B and U12B squads will not have a match this weekend. Summary of Changes
Senior Block Fixture: Wednesday 20th January - Matches vs. Cokethorpe School All 3 fixtures, originally scheduled for the 1st XI, 2nd XI and 3rd XI, have been cancelled.
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