PUPILS from Chigwell School embarked on a four-day tour of Dublin last week to play three matches against the strongest schools and club sides from the Irish capital.

The squad of 16 under-13s boys recovered from a 6-0 defeat in their opening match against Monkstown Hockey Club, to record back-to-back wins from their final games.

Their second opponents were Pembroke Hockey Club and with the score tied at 3-3 heading into the last 15 minutes, Daniel Whitehead deflected in Sonal Ohrie’s excellent cross and Alex Drew quickly added a fifth to secure the victory.

In Chigwell’s final match of the tour they took on St Andrews College, one of the top sporting schools in Dublin, again triumphing 5-3.

Daniel Whitehead was awarded man of the match for two electrifying 50-metre runs, one of which created a goal for Joe Klein and the second created a penalty stroke, which Jamie Colton converted.

The goal of the tournament was scored by Tom Martin, who finished a brilliant team move at the back post.

At the conclusion of the tour Colton and Ohrie were presented with the ‘Player of the Tour’ awards.

Kayden Chahal and Henry Gard won the ‘Most Improved Player’ awards and the ‘Team Player of the Tour’ gong went to Tom Clapham.

Harry Butler scored three times to finish as top goal-scorer, while Payaam Kapur was declared ‘Goalkeeper of the Tour’ despite initially travelling to play outfield.

The squad was rewarded for their successful week with a behind-the-scenes tour of the recently opened Aviva Stadium.

This follows their recent triumph in the Essex rounds of the National Schools’ Hockey Cup, where Chigwell won five of their six matches in a round-robin tournament, scoring 26 goals and conceding just three.

The team recovered from a goal down to beat Felsted 3-1 in their final game and advance to the eastern regional finals.

Chigwell Squad: Colton, Butler, Martin, Grace, Kapur, Prior, Gard, Chahal, Ohrie, Chopra, Clapham, Whitehead, Stack, Parsons, Klein, Drew.