By Freddie Nathan
In freezing, wind-swept conditions on 22 acres, a tense encounter was one by a solitary late Dan Atherton goal for Derwent against Alcuin. In truth, the scoreline should have been considerably larger, both sides guilty of glaring misses and, on the day, the two sides were more or less evenly matched.
In a scrappy first half where both teams tried to find their feet in the swirling conditions, the first clear chance of a match fell to Derwent around the 10 minute mark, a header by Matt Hallam from a Jake Farrell corner being cleared off the line by Alcuin’s wing-back, and best player on the day, Will Dodgson. After the initial early Derwent pressure, Alcuin came back into the game, a Dodgson cross towards the back post sent over the top from close range by Alex Brown on the slide.
As if to emphasise the story of the first period, where chances went to and fro, a few minutes later the first poor miss of the match occurred, as Dom Henney managed to miss the target at the far post when it looked easier to score from the excellent Xander Brinkworth’s centre. Both teams were trying to knock the ball around and look for openings, yet the disgraceful pitches and torrid conditions made that task very difficult, the ball coming back and forth from Derwent to Alcuin, and both teams ended the half searching for a crucial breakthrough.
After the brief interval, the conditions showed no signs of ceasing, yet Alcuin captain Phil Bowers must have said something inspiring (or at least spiked the half time oranges) as his side hit the ground running, the miss of the match going to Graham Kimber who managed to fire wide when clean through one on one with the keeper just a minute after the restart. Alcuin continued to pile on the pressure, and squandered another golden chance to take the lead when Kimber’s strike partner Alex Brown picked up on a poor goal kick, only to fire the rebound shot straight back into grateful keeper Seb Treasure’s arms. It seemed as if Alcuin had peaked early, as Derwent came roaring back, Andy Jeffries sending a header straight into Damian Pickard’s arms from a Matt Hallam free kick before Dan Atherton curled a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the box.
On the 75 minute mark, Hallam threw on David Kirk, and he made an impact on the game 5 minutes later for Derwent’s eventual winner, taking on a man, going to the by-line and sending in a cross that was not cleared by Alcuin’s defence. Dom Henney had a shot on the turn that drew a good reaction save from Pickard. Unfortunately, he could only parry it into space where a delighted Atherton was on hand to fire the ball into the gaping net from 6 yards out. Alcuin looked visibly distraught to be caught out so late, all their hard work and creation of chances against a more than competent Derwent side coming undone in the dying embers. There was still time for one last chance for Alcuin to win it, but a curling snap-shot from Paul Desoisa on the edge of the area was brilliantly tipped over by lighting fast reactions by Treasure in the Derwent goal, ensuring the win.
Derwent’s captain Matt Hallam was delighted to come out on top. “We tried hard not to be frustrated in the tough conditions. I felt we won more first and second balls in a scrappy game.” He also heaped praise on the save made at the death by Treasure. “It was a class save by Seb, he has saved us two points today”. Alcuin skipper Phil Bowers was gutted to lose the match but took positives from the performance, saying “the lads put all their effort in, I felt we matched them and had the better chances. We can take a lot of pride from the game, Derwent have steam-rollered other teams, so the fact they only put one past us is a great effort. Top performance.”