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Photos: Ruth Gibson
Derwent’s mixture of college football veterans and talented freshers made easy work of Alcuin in the first half, wrapping the game up before the break. Yet in truth, the score could have been a lot different on the second half showing as the men in red improved, and both sides missed a host of chances.
David Kirk gave Derwent the lead after just five minutes, Dan Atherton’s cross headed up in the air by Alex Earle in the penalty area, before Kirk took it down and expertly fired home with his left foot on the volley. Alcuin’s Paul De Soisa dragged a shot wide from 25 yards, before they missed a gilt edged chance, Will Taylor playing in Jakob Scholz, on his debut, who poked the ball wide with only the keeper to beat.
On 17 minutes, Derwent, who were bossing the game, fresher Alex d’Albertanson in particular dominating the midfield, extended the lead, when fellow first year Tom Brandreth, already having played for the university 1sts ghosted in at the back post to volley Atherton’s looping corner home from 5 yards out.
Brandreth nearly went from hero to villain a minute later when a cross cannoned off his shin and went just wide of his own goal. This pre-empted a decent spell of Alcuin pressure, without really threatening Seb Treasure in the Derwent goal, including an indirect free kick from inside the box after a backpass was picked up going just over with the help of a deflection. Meanwhile, at the other end, Dan Atherton’s 30 yard thunderbolt went just over, and Kirk missed a one on one, highlighting the end to end nature of the match. Yet the score remained 2-0 as the half time whistle went.
The second period contained no goals but many chances, the first of which was from d’Albertanson who hit the post when through on goal, the rebound gratefully collected by Alcuin keeper Damian Pickard. With a few long term absentees due to injury, and two players dropping out on the morning of the game, Alcuin were patched up and short on numbers, yet they created a fair few chances for themselves in the second half and did everything but score, Alex Brown having a shot cleared off the line by Brandreth after rounding Treasure while De Soisa missed his kick from the edge of the box.
Derwent themselves missed a golden chance to wrap the game up for good, Dan Atherton somehow missing when it was easier to score when put through by laid him off, before Alcuin were denied a stonewall penalty when Brown was felled, the referee seemingly having the whistle to his lips before stopping himself awarding the spot kick.
It was end to end as Brown and substitute Josh Allen missed chances for Alcuin while Derwent replacement Harry Bradshaw missed two himself. How the game ended at just 2-0 was beyond most watching, but that is exactly what happened, Derwent’s win not as comfortable as it looks on paper, the champion college simply taking more of their chances than their counterparts.
Derwent skipper Joe Boughtflower was optimistic for the future: “We had five new freshers playing today who all did really well, we are looking good for the year, I’m excited about what we can do.” Brad Wood, Alcuin’s captain, was philosophical, saying “The two goals could have been avoided really, both teams had chances but they took theirs, 2 shots 2 goals. But we have a lot to look forward to this season, we’re obviously disappointed about the result, but not about the performance which was encouraging.”
VISION MOTM: Tom Brandreth.