The Year 11 boys' football team has played extremely well to reach the semi-finals of the ESFA Cup. The competition started out with 538 schools involved from all over the country and to get down to the last 4 teams is incredible; we are extremely proud of the boys.

ESFA – Semi Final  - Thomas Estley v The Harefield Academy – Result 4:2

Although it wasn’t the result we were hoping for, the Year 11 football team can hold their heads up high. During this cup run they played excellent football and there were some very memorable games. With one highlight being how they convincingly beat the reigning cup holders Carshalton 3-1 in round 7 of the competition. Another dramatic game was the Quarter Finals when they beat Hall Mead 2-1 in extra time after conceding a 90^th minute penalty which raised Mr Ball’s Heart Rate to 126 Beats Per Minute!

During the Semi Final, they started the game with a couple of good half chances that could not be converted. But unfortunately the boys went in 2-0 down at the end of the first half. With a rousing half time team talk by Phil Gridelet and a change of formation the boys went out to try and win the game. Regrettably the boys conceded an early goal in the second half going down 3-0 but after 60 minutes of play the boys started to play some excellent football as seen in previous rounds and with some good spells of possession (Thomas Estley School started to crack under the relentless pressure that THA were applying) scored a late penalty and the score was now 3-2. With an eye for a dramatic comeback, THA threw caution to the wind, sending as many player up into attack as possible in search for the elusive equaliser to take the game into extra-time. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. In the final minutes Thomas Estley School won the ball back from a THA attack and broke quickly on the counter-attack and scored, making it 4-2 with only seconds to play.

We would like to give a special mention to the commitment of the players and in particular to those who made a highly positive contribution in terms of ethos and performance during the competition: Eric Negraru, Adam Baldwin, Taylor Hunt, David Levy, Alex Bennett, Konstantinos Nikopoulos, Malik Berbiche and Callum O’Hara.

Round 1 - Bye

Round 2 - THA 10 – 7 The Marlborough Science Academy

Round 3 - THA 4 – 1 The Chalfonts Community College

Round 4 - Woodcote High School 0 – 1 THA

Round 5 - JFS 0 – 6 THA

Round 6 - THA 4 – 0 Kings Langley

Round 7 - THA 3 – 1 Carshalton Boys

Quarter Finals

Hall Mead School 1 – 2 THA (AET)

Semi-Finals

Thomas Estley 4 – 2 THA

The Squad who played during the competition included:

Eric Negraru, Rocco Alessi, Dylan Arruda, Adam Baldwin, Shaun Govia-Jackson, Essa Mohamad Rashan, Jack Burchell, Thomas Horsewood, Taylor Hunt, David Levy, Alex Taylor, Alex Bennett, Konstantinos Nikopoulos, Malik Berbiche, Kilae Crockwell, Ayuub Abdulle, Callum O’Hara