So far, this year’s College Cup has seen some heroic performances, heated moments, controversy, a ton of goals and above all else, some wonderful football. As we move into the knock-out stages with eight sides battling for the cup, and eight sides in the plate competition, Vision looks forward to the remainder of both of the tournament’s tiers.
The path has been paved for a clash of titans in the final; early favourites Halifax 1sts need to beat Wentworth 1sts in the quarter-final, and will then play Goodricke 1sts, who overcame Vanbrugh 1sts in the first quarter-final. The winning team will then play Vanbrugh 1sts, who overcame Goodricke 1sts and secured a 1-0 victory in the quarter final.
The college league champions Derwent 1sts are also expected to get to the final. They have been placed in arguably the easier half of the draw with James 3rds, Halifax 2nds and Alcuin 1sts.However, going by the upsets seen so far in the tournament, nothing can be taken for granted in the College Cup.
The greatest exponents of this are James 3rds, who weren’t even expected to qualify for the plate. Benefiting from a Goodricke 1sts points deduction, and the dominant performances of goalscoring centre-back Nathan McCusker, James won all but one of their games to finish top of the group. A highlight from their outstanding campaign was a moment of magic from forward Tim Green, who scored a Gascoigne-esque goal against Vanbrugh 3rds to seal their group stage triumph.It hasn’t been all so rosy for James though; their first team have been confined to the plate. They will face the other deposed 1st team, Langwith, in the plate’s first quarter-final on Monday, and following their SCORE victory, look favourites for that trophy.
Among the other plate favourites are Vanbrugh 2nds; a college whose strength in depth is evidenced by the fact that they are the only college to have entered a 4th team in the tournament. Defender Dan Radford has kept things tight at the back for the 2nds whilst getting two goals to his name.Derwent 2nds cannot be discounted, and nor can Derwent 3rds. If those two do meet in the semi-final, the game could come down to which team instinctive striker Jon Garness lines up for. Garness has scored over half of Derwent 3rds’ goals, and all but one of the 2nds’. Even the likes of Dan Atherton and David Kirk must be looking over their shoulders as Garness stakes his claim for a first team place.
The other contenders for the plate are Goodricke 2nds, Wentworth 2nds and Halifax 3rds. The two teams from Group 3 will hope to pose a threat to the favourites of the competition but in reality they may find it difficult. Having only beaten sides who finished below them in their group, they still have to prove that they are more than flat-track bullies. Wentworth 2nds face Derwent 2nds in the quarter-finals and you would expect to see them soon exit the competition.Returning the focus to the premier knock-out competition, the presence of Halifax’s 2nds side sees them as the only college with two teams remaining in the cup. Hamish Denham has been outstanding; scoring goals and providing an additional threat with his long throw-ins.
The reigning champions Alcuin 1sts did not enjoy the best of starts, but they redeemed themselves of their early poor performances with 7-0 and 5-0 victories over Derwent 3rds and Wentworth 3rds respectively. However, having lost so many players in the close-season, it would take a lot for them to amount a challenge to regain their title. Looking back over the tournament so far, there have been some obvious highlights. For many, the most surprising one has been James 1sts 5-2 defeat of Vanbrugh 4ths. With James searching for a big win to qualify for the cup, the debutant 4th side more than held their own, and their second goal, scored by Will Cooper saw a wild pitch invasion, as frustrations boiled over for James.
Some spectacular goals from college football stalwarts such as Conor Brennan and Phil Taylor have lit up the competition, as well as some equally sublime goals from lesser known players such as John Gow and Luke Charles. Moments of magic and madness have also been frequent, the pick of which has been Sam Clitheroe’s goal against Halifax 2nds; bouncing in bizarrely having been hoofed from James college’s half.
Ultimately, the focus will fall on the two favourites, Halifax 1sts and Derwent 1sts. All eyes will be on the likes of Atherton, Hallam, Brennan and Ragan to come up with something special and inspire their sides to victory.
Come week nine, regardless of the finalists, we should have two fantastic games to look forward to.
does anyone proof read these articles? the second paragraph is shocking.