OW 1st XI win the Arthurian League DW Trophy

A little bit of school history was made on Saturday 26th April on the Merchant Taylors pitches when the Old Worthian 1st XI team won the David Woolcott Trophy in the FA's alumni associations Arthurian League that they entered just this season.

After an understandably nervous start, which saw both teams go close, Oundle had a goal disallowed for off side and our Captian, Harry Woodman F'10, had a header go close from a corner. The game started to settle down, with Worth playing most of the controlled football. Their possession-based style suited the big pitch and the midfield of Pietro Saletti R'24,Theo Rivers F'11 and Ollie Maud R'17 started to take control. Making the opposition chase the ball resulted in lots of space appearing out wide. Will Mersh C'18 and Pip McGrath on the wings started to put crosses in towards our centre forward, Tommy Ferguson. It was from this pressure that we received a corner and the first goal.

As the ball wasn’t cleared, Ollie Rivers F'14 went to the byline and crossed to find Pietro Saletti unmarked and made no mistake from 6 yards out. Worth continued to press and made a number of chances, but it remained 1-0 at half time. The half time chat was all about keeping the pace of the game fast and taking our chances.

Both sides had chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half and Tim Long B'11 made an excellent save to keep us in front. Alex Davis-White B'14 and Ollie Rivers would prevent Tim from having to face any more shots with some outstanding defending, assisted by full backs Oli Paisley C'19, Tom Taverner R'07 (from the bench) and Harry Woodman (who returned in the second half, once his ear had been bandaged up!). Once again Worth started to dominate. It was Tommy Ferguson C'15 who took advantage of a midfield through ball, pushing it past the centre half and rounding the keeper, to put the ball in the net and the game out of reach. Worth had a couple of good chances to extend their lead, but 2-0 was how it ended.

Tommy Ferguson won a bottle of champagne for “Moment of the game” and Harry Woodman received the trophy from the Chair of The Arthurian League.

This cup win is a first for Old Worthian football and ends an excellent season.  A huge thank you to all those who have played and especially, Harry Woodman our Captain.

Andy Taylor, OW Football Club Manager