Despite the cold and snow, Islington Primary School’s District football team finished the Lester Finch Trophy campaign off in real style with a 6-2 victory over Barking and Dagenham.

They also continued their trend of conceding an early goal, going 1-0 down after only a minute, but as the half progressed they started to get more penetration and play further up the field.

And after some neat skill on the touchline by Stephane Mgbada, he crossed for Freddy Brennan to convert from close range.

The game continued to be a very even battle between the two sides, with Islington going close on a couple of occasions but also indebted to Ossi Valtenan for make a couple of good saves.

The second half started just as evenly with Archie Linden and Tyreese Piper-Burt defending superbly.

But six minutes in a long kick from the second-half goalkeeper Sid Marshall caused problems for the Barking central defender and Mgbada, now playing as a central striker, managed to go through and score with a controlled low finish.

The game continued on a relatively even keel until the 88th minute when Johnny Gurie broke free down the right and crossed for Mgbada to score again from close range.

Almost immediately after, Cameron Walker picked up the ball on the left flank, drove forward and hit a fantastic shot from 25 yards which flew over the keeper into the net.

A minute later Dagenham pulled back a goal with a good free-kick but then in the dying moments of the game a great break away goal, made in Ashmount Primary with good combination play from Walker and then Willhoft-King, allowed Mgbada to break free and he finished with aplomb to claim his hat-trick.

There was still time for captain Gurie to convert from close range.

Manager Michael MacNeill said: “This was an excellent performance and a great result against a decent Barking team.

“The boys competed really well but also played some clinical football and were very effective, particularly from wide positions with a number of goals coming from accurate crossing and finishing.

“There were so many great individual performances within a really good team effort. At half-time with the game at 1-1, we had a chat with the players and they decided they wanted to go for the win, so that’s what we did.”

Squad: Valtenan (Marshall), Linden, Piper-Burt, Jos.Gurie, Vargas (Walker), Mgbada, Willhoft-King, Jon.Gurie, Brennan (Gordon),