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In Greek mythology, The Chimera was a fearsome, fire-breathing beast, with the body of a lion, head of a goat and the tail of a serpent, which destroyed anything in its path.

However, Bellerophon (Bell-ero-fon), the son of Poseidon, had earned himself a reputation as a mighty hero for his exceptional strength, skill and courage. Bellerophon journeyed to The Chimera’s mountainside lair and engaged in terrifying, fiery combat. Bellerophon suffered many wounds, but fought on bravely, eventually seizing his opportunity to defeat the monster and return home victorious.

On Friday, Harris Boys’ Year 10 faced a treacherous battle of their own, as they faced Harris Crystal Palace in equally fiery temperatures, in the Harris Cup Final at Crystal Palace FC training ground.

HBAED started brightly and had the better of the early chances, Aaron and Oliver testing the Palace goalkeeper, and nearly taking the lead after aggressive pressure opened an opportunity for Casper to put narrowly wide. Crystal Palace grew into the game and began dominating possession and got their reward seconds before half time, striking from close range. HBAED 1-0 down at half time.

The second half started in similar fashion, HBAED pegged back, having to withstand attacks from the Crystal Palace monster, and they were wounded again following a corner – the ball pinged around in the penalty area and eventually found the top corner despite best efforts from Louis for 2-0. HBAED were in the belly of the beast, and only some brilliant saves from Stanley kept the scoreline down.

Like Bellerophon, HBAED Year 10 have earned themselves a reputation for courage, skill and resilience, and Friday afternoon’s display should gain similar historical and mythical recognition. There were five minutes left to play and Daouda delivered a corner into the box, which was only half cleared; Louis chased the loose ball and was dragged down in the penalty area – Penalty given! Louis crashed the spot kick past the goalkeeper to give HBAED a lifeline.

Sensing an opportunity and with time running out, HBAED threw caution to the wind and in the dying seconds a long ball was set upon by Aaron, bearing down on goal, certain to score, he was desperately hacked down in the penalty area for HBAED’s 2nd penalty and a straight red card for the Palace defender. Louis took the captain’s responsibility for the immensely high-pressure penalty, again burying it into the roof of the net to level the score with the last kick of the game: 2-2!!

Straight to penalties: HBAED’s brave warriors stepped up, like the Titan Atlas, with the weight of the world on their backs. Daouda went first, maintaining composure after attempted mind-games from the Palace keeper, striking high into the net. Stanley’s own goal-line performance was enough to put off Palace’s first taker as they dragged wide! Ryan up next, coolly slotting his penalty into the bottom corner. The pressure was all too much for Palace’s 2nd taker as they blazed over the bar! Hamed went next, confidently putting his penalty away for 3-0. Palace finally got off the mark in the shootout to take the score to 3-1. Aaron up with a chance to win the final for Harris Boys’, only to see his penalty expertly saved by the Palace goalkeeper. But the star of the semi-final shootout, Stanley, had another moment that will go down in legend, throwing himself to his right to beat away the final penalty to WIN THE FINAL FOR HARRIS BOYS’!

Our very own conquering heroes return to Harris Boys’ as victorious winners of the 2023 Harris Cup!

Mr Cooper

Pastoral Director for Year 7, Teacher of PE