Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
This week's results were as follows:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
In group 1 Alcuin 1sts have predictably navigated the group stage unscathed, scoring 9 points and 9 goals along the way. Langwith 2nds are pushing Halifax 1sts hard for 2nd place though and are currently ahead of the well-equipped Halifax 1st team on account of having scored more goals. The two meet at 11am on Monday in what will surely be a hotly contested fixture that Halifax 1sts have to win to save their blushes and avoid having to play in the Plate.
Halifax 1sts’ 1-0 win over James 2nds this week condemned James 2nds to last place but they’ll take confidence into the Plate from a display that frustrated Halifax, a sole Dom Green goal being the difference.
Group 2, the ‘group of death’, will go right to the wire as well. After a thrilling 3-3 draw Vanbrugh 1sts and Goodricke 1sts both have 4 points with one game to play with Halifax 2nds sitting ominously behind on 3 points ready to pounce and knockout either of the big hitters if they slip up in their final group game.
A rocketing Remington free-kick, a well worked Grafham goal and a sizzler from Silson put Goodricke in the driving seat at 3-1, but a fight back from Vanbrugh culminated in Gouland grabbing his second of the game which, after a Matt Richards goal, ensured the spoils were shared.
Tuesday’s other match saw Derwent 1sts ease past Wentworth 1sts 3-1 and seal their place in the next round after only two games. Lacaille (2) and an Alex Cooper header meant a late Derwent defensive lapse that allowed Wentworth only their second goal of their campaign was no more than a consolation.
Captain Chris Barnett, who was singled out as one-to-watch by college football guru and Alcuin captain Myles Preston last week, was obviously pleased to have qualified with a game to spare: “The Vanbrugh 2nds game is the day after Viking Raid so I’m glad it’s not so important now.” As for his team’s prospects he made no secret of his ambition when he said: “I genuinely think we’re one of the best teams in it and people don’t realise that. I’m confident we can prove people wrong.”
Although he didn’t score this week, Anton Murphy was singled out by Barnett as a dangerman. Murphy’s new found respect for college football has not gone unnoticed by his captain who admits he had doubts over the university 2nd team striker’s attitude until days before the tournament. However, an appearance at training and a brace against Alcuin 2nds mean Murphy should be safe from the subs' bench for a while yet!
Elsewhere in group 3 Vanbrugh 2nds’ 3-2 victory over Alcuin 2nds today mean they go through with Derwent 1sts, and as mentioned previously, the two meet on Tuesday to decide who’ll top the group and avoid Alcuin 1sts in the quarter-finals.
Perhaps the most open group is group 4 where all 4 teams are still in with a shout of qualification. Despite this James 1sts will be confident of getting through, only a heavy loss to qualifiers Derwent 3rds and a Goodricke 2nds win over Langwith 1sts could see them having to enter the Plate.
Derwent 3rds will be kicking themselves after letting an early lead slip against Goodricke 2nds. Derwent led thanks to a deflected Whitehouse free-kick but shortly before half-time Goodricke levelled and it came from full back Andy Case whose innocuous forward pass was brilliantly dummied by Adam Leadbitter to leave Dave Coupland through on the goal. Coupland will claim he was trying to improve on the greatest goal that never was; when Pele dummied the ball and ran round the Uruguay goalkeeper only to miss the resultant open goal in the 1970 World Cup. But it seems more likely Coupland was hurried by the onrushing goalkeeper Ben Lake and subsequently fluffed his lines. Either way the ball trickled past the both of them and into the corner of the net, meaning Case scored from 50 odd yards!
Sam Senchal was at the centre of attention for, mostly, the wrong reasons when he popped up from what appeared to be an obviously offside position to volley against the keeper and into the net from 8 yards. This drove the Derwent players berserk and soon after a fracas broke out with Senchal at the centre of it as he stood eyeball to eyeball with the equally vertically challenged, though considerably slighter, De Silva of Derwent. Accusations of elbows were rife from both sets of players but the referee did well to ignore the handbags and let play continue.
We was robbed!
It finished 2-1 to Goodricke 2nds and leaves them needing probably only a point against Langwith 1sts to go through. In an ad hoc post-match interview manager Michael Sneddon could only muster: “Get in! We’re on our way to the quarters”. Derwent 3rds captain Henry Clark was equally succinct and to the point when asked about the possible offside for the winning goal: “We was robbed!”
So only one more week of group games. They are as follows:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Monday's first game and Thursday's action are The Yorker's tips for entertainment this week as teams play each other in what will almost be a winner takes all situation. Tuesday's matches also offer this with Vanbrugh 1sts desperate to get through, whilst Derwent 1sts and Vanbrugh 2nds will fight to avoid favourites Alcuin 1sts.
Much to look forward to and as always The Yorker will be covering it: log on next week for the final group standings and draw for the quarter finals in both the main competition and the Plate.
my goals were assisted by eddie and adlou thanks greg...i'm not usually allowed near the opposition's penalty area so no-one knew of my fox-in-the-box like qualities!
and danny used to be in goodricke, is now a member of wentworth 1sts and is a fully-qualified ref...there isn't anything for either side to feel aggrieved about except maybe eddie was offside for the team's 2nd goal and a few throw-in decisions were wrong. he was certainly a lot better than our first referee who gave nothing to either side and turned out to be nothing more than a time-keeper.
also, what was the vanbrugh 1s vs halifax 2s score today?
dom's right, i don't think a different ref would have given a different result, but there were a LOT of dodgey decisions.
Goodricke 1's were (are) obviously a better team than us, but the last thing we needed was a biased ref if we were to have any hope of getting a result.
Rambo it was me that set up your first one! Obviously the euphoria of your brace has gone straight to your head. Vanbrugh 1sts drew 0-0 with Halifax 2s so Vanbrugh edged through the group stages.
I can see Jack's point that with a few decisions going against you it was always going to make the task even more difficult, but I don't think it's fair to say he was biased as that questions the man's integrity. When I've refereed Goodricke 2nds before I actually found I was more reluctant to give decisions their way for fear of being called biased. But if he's fully qualified then you cant ask much more than that at this level.
To be fair, I'm fairly confident that Goodricke would not have won the match if Danny wasn't reffing.
sorry dom...i was too busy thinking about my faustino asprilla goal celebration, of course it was you who assisted me!
jack i really can't think of a LOT of dodgy decisions and to say the match had a biased ref is very untruthful. plus i bet you had no complaints and didn't even known dan left goodricke 2 years ago before greg stirred up some trouble!
Goodricke have got the reputation for being cheats anyway - how about Sugar Ray Remington's antics the week before?
Me stirring?! Considering I can't play in this year's tournament I have no reason to employ Preston-esque mind games. Though injury has made me slightly bitter and the thought of Rambo getting two doesn't make it easier!
Although the idea of it sounds dodgy, having spoken to a few members of Derwent 2nds, including the captain, they don't seem too aggrieved and agree Dadlou's Army (have I coined that or has it been said before?) would have probably won anyway.
So yeh, guess I was stirring a little...
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