Leighton Park School U12 0 Shiplake U12 4

The entire squad of 18 travelled to Leighton Park School for Shiplake U12s first away soccer fixture and once again every player enjoyed some game time on the pitch. Shiplake stamped their early dominance on the game with Henry Foster giving a sign of things to come, rattling the Leighton Park crossbar with a shot unleashed from the edge of the box. Henry also hit the post twice. Jack Tooley and Henry are forming a decent partnership up front – with telepathic understanding!


Billy Sayers gave a disciplined performance on the wing, giving us the width we missed last week and Shiplake’s defence looked rock solid. Ed Farrar handled coolly and kept a clean-sheet in goal, Tom Dale dominated at the back and Leighton Park’s attacks were quickly snuffed out with Liam Peachey distributing the ball effectively from left-back. Alex Game was also prominent and is improving with every match. Henry Foster grabbed a first-half hat-trick as Shiplake pulled away from the opposition, sensing that a historic first win was on the cards for the newly established Lower School.

George Greenaway put the victory beyond doubt when he scored Shiplake’s fourth to cap another outstanding performance in midfield. Shiplake now look forward to their next fixture but know that much remains to be done on the training field. The players still have a tendency to bunch and much greater positional discipline is required.