2025 STC Hall Cup – What a Finish!

Yesterday saw the culmination of 6 weeks' worth of high quality and extremely competitive tournament football, that saw all 5 of our halls led by their APM's do battle to be crowned the 2025 Hall cup champions. 

The initial group stage was won by Bahkita with an impressive 100% record, by virtue of being group winners they had a clear passage to the grand final. 

Soubirous (2nd) and Alexandria (3rd) were the two other halls who made it out of a very competitive group and in doing so set up a semi final encounter which turned out to be one of the most exciting games ever seen at St Charles Arena. 

Alexandria raced into a 5-1 half time lead and the game looked over but some words of wisdom from Mr Alexander at half time swung the game and 4 unanswered goals saw the game firstly go to extra time and then the lottery of penalties - it was Soubirous who held their nerve when keeper Taylor Bristol saved from Chase Hunte-Jones to send his hall into the grand final. 

If we thought that the drama of the semi final could not be matched in the final, we were very much mistaken. Cheered on by a huge crowd - making the Arena feel more like a colosseum, this game had everything! It was Soubirous who dominated the first half going into the half time break 4-0 up with a totally dominant performance. Much like the semi final the team that looked down and out rose up in true St Charles spirit to miraculously lead 5-4, with it looking like it would be Bakhita's day, Soubirous won a penalty with only 30 seconds left on the clock. Under huge pressure Leslie Egwuonwe scored to level the game and take us into extra time. 

Extra time yielded no goals so the hall cup would be decided by penalties. After the initial round of 5 kicks had the teams tied at 3-3, it came down to Hussain Ali and the aforementioned Leslie Egwuonwe, after Ali converted it left Egwuonwe needing to score, unfortunately for him and those supporting Soubirous his penalty was well saved by John Perreras and it was Bahkita who were the 2025 STC Hall Cup champions! 

A dramatic ending to a breathless final and an excellent tournament. 

Before the trophy was presented to the winners, two individual awards were handed out: 

Golden boot (top goalscorer): Ayub Hassan

Player of the tournament: John Perreras

Well done to all those who played and represented their halls, thank you to those who braved the cold and rain to support and to the members of staff who helped make the tournament run as smoothly as it did.