London Cup Fixture - St Charles vs Hatcham College

St Charles kicked off their London cup campaign with a long trip across London to play Hatcham college, a college we had never played before. The London cup is a prestigious competition pitying colleges and sixth forms from all corners of the capital against each other. St Charles last won this competition back in 2019 the year they won the historic quadruple, the last two seasons have seen us beaten semi finalists so we are hoping to go one better this year!

The game was played in near continuous rain and wind which made playing any sort of football difficult but a strong start from STC saw them 3 goals up within the first 15 minutes, these goals coming from Nicky Tavares (2) and Rivaldo Murray. Tavares' second was a half volley from fully 30 yards that nestled into the bottom right hand corner leaving the Hatcham goalkeeper rooted to the spot. To be fair to Hatcham college they did not give up and pulled a goal back after a mixture of slack defending and greasy surface conspired against Ned Malit. This did not deter STC who finished the half 5-1 to the good with a low strike from Prodige Katshunga and a Rivaldo header from wicked Ayub Hassan corner. 

The second half saw STC dominate without really getting out of second gear, despite this we added further goals through Salah Attia, a composed Filip Grahovic finish and Rivaldo who completed his hat-trick to round off an 8-1 win.

Man of the Match Ayub Hassan had this to say after the game: I'm happy that we won and think we started the game well but complacency crept in and we have to be better as stronger teams will punish us. 

Manager Dean Banks added: I was pleased with the result after a long journey and a game played in difficult conditions but I think ironically this was our biggest win but our worst performance of the season. We dropped our levels and intensity in the second half and the boys know after a strong start to the season the hard work is just beginning and there is no room for complacency.