Men's football 1sts show character

Football 1sts display fight

WRITTEN BY MARK WORRALL

If teams are judged on how they cope with adversity, then the University Men’s football 1st XI can look forward to the rest of the season with great anticipation. The Yorker tells the tale of a spirited performance that saw them record their third victory of the season, and keep their unbeaten NUL record intact.

Visiting the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) is always a difficult challenge, the marathon two and a half hour trip, combined with very blustery conditions, often puts many teams on the back foot before they even kick off. This year, UCLAN 1sts headed into the match undefeated, having won six out of their seven fixtures and joint top of both their BUCS and NUL leagues.

With an injury list longer than a Rory Delap throw-in, captain Witherwick was forced into several changes, drafting in Johnson and Worrall for their first team debuts and calling up Laird as substitute. Witherwick need not have worried, his team responded passionately to his stirring pre-match speech and set about their tasks with much relish, albeit little composure.

With a number of absentees and the class of the opposition York would have to work hard for a result. This was especially true for the first fifteen minutes as York survived a barrage of chances, the best of which was foiled by the returning youngster Emmerson with possibly the finest reflex save he will ever make high to his left.

York began to settle down and the defence, shepherded expertly by the faultless Gardner, began to snuff out the UCLAN front line. It was through the interception of a UCLAN attack by the impressive Swan that York took the lead. A surging run taking him past three midfielders and the resulting lay-off from Witherwick putting Cox through on goal. The portly striker danced like an energetic cheerleader in front of the goalkeeper before finally delivering the fatal ‘Cox Shuffle’ to leave the UCLAN number one on his backside and give York a battling 1-0 lead.

The end of the first half came with UCLAN still slightly on top, in particular their long throw-ins causing York several problems. However, another rousing speech by captain Witherwick demanding his players to ‘leave everything on the pitch’ paid dividends as York began the second half slightly better, with UCLAN resorting to long ball tactics at times, such was their frustration at their inability to break York down. In particular, normally attacking wing-backs Cooper and Evans had to be deployed as extra defenders.

Perhaps the defining moment of the match came after sixty minutes when the ball appeared to bounce clearly from a UCLAN players shin and for a York throw-in. The UCLAN full-back launched the throw-in down the left wing and into the path of their number 10 striker, amidst protests from the York players. As he entered the penalty area he was clumsily fouled by Worrall, who later claimed he was trying to retrieve the ball to re-take the throw-in and to York’s amusement and exasperation the referee awarded a penalty. Up stepped the big number 9 who to York, and Worrall’s, absolute relief missed the target. Captain Witherwick later sheepishly admitted the ball took a deflection off his leg, which no-one else on the pitch managed to see.

If York needed a boost to drive them to the end, this was it, and a tearaway attack resulted in Brennan finding himself 20 yards from goal where his shot was wickedly deflected ‘Lampard-esque’ to give York a 2-0 lead. As the tired Murphy gave way to the trickery of Laird a shell-shocked UCLAN, having dominated for the majority of the game, were even more so five minutes later when Johnson scored what can only be described as a wonder goal. A free kick on the left wing so far out that UCLAN had opted for only a one man wall, their defence clearly assuming a cross was the order of the day, was nailed by Johnson into the roof of the goal.

The match in the bag, the otherwise impeccable keeper Emmerson decided to gift UCLAN a goal. Despite his wonderful display, Emmerson's inexperience and lack of concentration shone through when he fluffed a simple cross which held up in the wind and brought the match back to 3-1. There was to be no comeback here though as York 1sts marched off to a hard-fought victory with captain Witherwick citing the “immense strength of character and discipline all over the park” as the key factor.

Team: Emmerson, Swan, Gardner, Worrall, Witherwick, Brennan, Johnson, Cooper, Evans, Cox, Murphy (Laird, 70)

Scorers: Cox, Brennan, Johnson

Man of the Match: Swan

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