On Friday, Fielding took 2 5 a-side teams to Norwood Hall to compete in the 21st APNA football competition. This is one of the major football competitions of the year and so we were excited to use it to try to bounce back from last weeks disappointment of losing the Peal Shield Final.

We named our teams Adidas and Nike based on the kits they were wearing and Team Adidas were kicking off first. They had Khalsa A in their first game and started strong with a 5-0 win. Team Nike then started off their day against Downe Manor A with a 1-0 win too.

Round 2 saw Team Adidas up against Oaklands B in a game where they were wasteful in front of goal but still came out with a 2-0 win. Team Nike then had Khalsa B and built on their first win with a comfortable 4-0 victory.

Game 3 for Team Adidas was Tudor B in which they were ruthless in attack as they went on to win 10-0. In Team Nike's third game of the group they played Lady Margaret A and won 2-0.

Both teams finished top of their groups and so qualified for the last 16 of the competition knowing that now only the winners would progress and stay in the competition. Team Adidas were drawn against West Acton A and had some terrible luck in the opening minutes as our goalkeeper went off injured. We stayed resolute and went on to win 5-0. Team Nike had St. John's A in front of them for a place in the quarter finals and won a very open game 4-2.

Team Adidas then had to play Wolf Field A in the quarter final. We were disappointed to learn that our goalkeeper would be out for the rest of the competition so again we had to adapt and be resilient in our attempt to progress. The boys were fantastic again and won 7-1 to qualify for the semi final. Team Nike were drawn against tournament favourites St. Mark's A, who were confident after last weeks Peal Shield victory. That confidence wasn't misplaced after they beat us 5-0.

It was just Team Adidas left now who had Oaklands A in the semi's. The heat was starting to get to us now and even though we had been staying hydrated and resting under our gazebo we were understandably getting tired. The game ended 0-0 and so went to penalties. We held our nerve and won 4-3 to go through to the final.

The final was to be a re-run of last weeks Peal Shield final against St. Mark's A who again had been very good all day. We had some time to plan for the final game, came up with a game plan and talked it through as a team. It was a tense game but we eventually found a break through to go 1-0 up. We just had to see the game out now and stay true to our game plan. The boys were superb and the final whistle blew at 1-0 to Fielding. 

Both of our teams were ecstatic with the result and felt extremely proud to be crowned 2022 APNA Champions. A huge well done to all involved!