Harvey brace helps U14A to St. Paul’s victory

The U14As comfortably saw off St Paul’s School in an exciting game that contained a brace from Paddy Harvey and ended in a 4-1 win for Hampton, writes Josh Hood.

After a long half term and a few weeks without a game, the U14As were back at it, after the break, in action on the 3G pitch at St Paul’s School. 

A slow start saw the away team lose out in terms of possession in the opening minutes. But once a few duels had been won and passes strung together, things started to pick up.

A free kick was won by Hampton to the right side of the penalty area and was whipped in accurately by Zain Suterwalla. The cross was met equally well by Harvey who leaped up and headed the ball into the far, top left corner of the goal to claim his first of the match.

Minutes later, the home team had a free kick of their own close to the Hampton box. However, after a brilliant headed clearance by Toby North, Ben Walker picked up the ball and played it on to Suterwalla, who took a brilliant touch and put Jamie Wilson through on goal. 

Although in the clear, he still had a long way to run from inside his own half, but he held off a St Paul’s defender to stride into the box and smash the ball into the far corner of the net.

Despite this, just before the stroke of half time, a long ball from St Paul’s caught the Hampton defence unaware, and an opposition winger found himself with a free shot on goal before he calmly opened up his body and passed the ball into the bottom right corner.

But despite this minor blip before half time, Hampton’s strong performance continued after the break as good passing meant that space opened up for Jamie Wilson, who skipped into the box before being brought down to win a penalty. 

Obrad Kuzmanovic stepped up and placed the ball into the bottom right corner, past the keeper who stood still to watch it fly into the net.

Finally, to confirm an excellent victory, after some encouraging play down the left hand side, Aaron Mills crossed the ball into the box, only to be met by the outstretched boot of Harvey once again. 

However, this time his feet were swept away from underneath him by the flailing leg of the defender and another penalty was given. 

Harvey gave the keeper the eyes and sent him the wrong way, converting the spot-kick in the bottom right corner to seal an impressive victory.