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
College champions Goodricke fielded University players Billy Goldring, Lewis Pollock and Sally Cannon, but Derwent’s team performance and hard work made them worthy winners.
Both colleges reached the final with relative ease. Derwent accounted for a weak Langwith side in the first round, before raising their game to beat James 3-0 in the semi-final. Goldring and Pollock led the way for Goodricke as they sneaked past Halifax 2-1 in the opener, before a late score by Katie Cowper-Johnson in their semi-final dispatched of Alcuin by the same scoreline.
Adam Clark opened the scoring for Derwent in the final, but Goodricke had all the game in the early stages. The pressure told when Sally Cannon intercepted a Derwent throw and passed to Katie Cowper-Johnson in the area to level.
The white-shirted Goodricke side went one up in the next phase of play, as Pollock lost his marker and made up yards of ground to take a long throw from Goldring.
At this stage it looked like Goodricke’s experience would take them home. But Nick Hassey and Captain Deborah Sharpe put in a huge amount of effort to keep Derwent in the game, and Matthew Clark took a catch to level soon after coming on as a sub.
However, Goodricke responded, and took the lead again as a long spell of possession resulted in Goldring – arguably the player of the tournament – slipping through to score.
But Derwent managed to step up their game. With the clock ticking down Sharpe caught a long pass from Hassey to equalise, before the AU Vice President got rewards for his tireless performance by breaking free in the last seconds of the game to score Derwent's fourth and winning goal.
“It was an amazing game,” said Sharpe. “It was very close – they’ve got three first teamers and we had none. But we fought hard and deserved our win.”
Results
1st Round
Semi-Finals
Final
