Tributes have poured in for 19-year-old Oliver Kingonzila, the 19-year-old PROTEC central midfielder who has captained the Barnet U-18 side and played for the first team in the Herts Senior Cup.

He was stabbed to death outside a bar in Croydon at around 1.00am yesterday. Two teenagers have been arrested by the police.

Paul Fairclough said: "Oliver had great potential. He was a big, 6ft 2ins prospect - a real gentle giant apart from when he was on the pitch. He was a great kid and was on his way to becoming a professional. Everyone at the club is devastated".

PROTEC'S Peter Edwards said: "He was a lovely polite lad - that's why I made him captain. He was an exemplary player who would have gone far in the game.

"He has never been in any trouble. He really is the last person you'd expect to die like this".

Oliver, a business studies student at Croydon College, is the 26th teenager to be killed in London this year, 21 of them from knife wounds.

Paul Fairclough recommended Kingonzila to PROTEC. The youngster trained with the first team squad.

Dennis Signy