Richard Pacquette (left) and teammate Jamie Collins, heroes of Havant and Waterlooville’s FA Cup tie against Liverpool, were back in school this week.
The school standards officer and the primary teacher are members of the non-league football team beaten 5-2 in the fourth round at Anfield on Saturday. But not before they gave the Premiership side a real scare. Pacquette, whose day job is rounding up truants at John Kelly Boys’ Technology College in north-west London, scored the first goal of the game - a deft header. Liverpool equalised, but under the captaincy of Collins, 23, who works at Yeading Junior School in west London, the underdogs went ahead again.
“Some of the younger kids have been calling me a loser,” the PE teacher said, laughing. “There’s not a lot you can say to that. They’re just too young to appreciate the achievement it was to get there.”
Photograph: Neil Turner.
