York ladies 1sts had nothing to lose and everything to gain in their semi-final cup clash against Durham 2nds. They came into the match as the underdogs, as Durham are likely to be promoted to two leagues above York. On the day, however, the favourites triumphed, beating York 3-0 to go forward to the finals where they will face either Liverpool 1sts or Bangor 1sts.
York did not have an easy ride through the cup. They scraped through the first round, beating Sheffield Hallam 2nds by only one goal. In the 3rd round they faced Durham 3rds, the match was a tense thriller that came down to penalties when the match finished with the scores level at two all. Durham, on the contrary, sailed through their earlier round, they best Leeds 5ths in the 1st round 10-0 and had their 2nd round match against Bradford declared a walkover.
Despite Durham playing in the league higher than York, the two teams looked evenly matched as they settled down to what was to be seventy minutes of excellent hockey. York were the first to make a foray into the Durham D, winning a short corner that was not to be converted despite the best efforts of Emily Lucas on the top of the D. The desire and determination was evident in every player with every player giving their all.
York’s defence were forced to cope with Durham’s astonishingly fast forward line who were well drilled and accomplished at shooting accurately from their first opportunity in the D. Sally Warrington and Rachael McMillan and goalkeeper Laura Porter coped well under sustained pressure, all of them pulling off some wonderful saves.
However, it was not enough to stop Durham from scoring. Blinded by the sun, the Yorkie defence simply couldn’t see the Durham centre forwards’ aerial into the D, as Durham elected to choose ends in the coin toss, this looks likely to have been carefully planned. Receiving the aerial, the Durham player sidestepped round ‘keeper Porter and slammed the ball into the open goal.
York did not let their heads drop and continued to show Durham just how they had beaten their 3rds and 4ths. Imy Storm found space at the top of the D to receive some beautiful balls from the line but the Durham defence saw off these challenges.
After winning a short corner, Durham claimed their second goal in a somewhat scrappy fashion. A clever deceptive dummy at the top of the D was not matched by a bobbly and decidedly messy shot on goal. However, after a skirmish at the goal line it proved to be enough to push them 2-0 ahead of the girls from York.
The second half started with both teams pushing hard at the goal. York had a great chance to score, Jill Mercer continued her brilliant form in the match to work the left line beautifully, an accurate pass to Faustino was followed with another great ball to Storm who drove the line determinably. Her cross into the D was gauged perfectly to hit the post but unfortunately Joely Hartley was mere inches away from converting the cross.
Durham continued to press on the York defence. They relied on their incredibly quick play and remarkable fitness to storm up the pitch. Their third goal was another messy scrap near the goal line which was not comparable with their beautiful passing play to get to that point.
The match ended 3-0 to Durham and York’s cup dream died.
Vision MOM: Jill Mercer