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Photos: Zoe Bennell
A dramatic second-half saw Halifax 1sts twice recover from a goal behind to lift the College Cup with a 3-2 victory over Derwent 1sts in a thrilling final.
Dan Atherton twice put Derwent ahead, but goals from Ash Daly, Matt Darling and Connor Meckin saw Halifax complete a remarkable victory in an enthralling encounter.
Derwent dominated the early stages, as Halifax struggled to assert a foothold in the contest, with the first chance falling to Derwent captain Ollie Harrison in the second minute. The full back rose highest to meet a Tom Brandreth long throw, but his header flew over the bar from five yards out.
Dan Atherton then whipped a free kick off target from a dangerous position, before the same player came close to opening the scoring in the 11th minute, as he jinked past two players after receiving the ball from Joe Easter, but his left footed shot scuttled wide of Jonny Sim’s far post.
Halifax meanwhile were limited to a sole Ash Daly snapshot which fizzed well wide of Frank Woodcock’s far post. The influence of Halifax’s key players Tom Day and Matt Mawdesley was restricted, whilst the dangerous McCoy was well marshalled, as Derwent continued to control the tempo of the contest.
In the 20th minute the pressure told, as Derwent ruthlessly capitalised on an error by Matt Seed. The centre-half’s miscued clearance was intercepted by Easter, who fed the ball through to Atherton, and the talented forward did the rest, confidently sliding past Sim to hand Derwent a vital lead.
Halifax responded to falling behind, as they enjoyed their best spell of the half, enjoying a greater share of possession without creating any clear chances. The closest they came was a McCoy effort from a looped Day cross to the back post, but on the angle his effort floated high and wide, as Derwent deservedly held a 1-0 half time lead.
The second half saw a resurgent Halifax emerge, and in the 35th minute they almost equalised through a trademark Hamish Denham long throw. Denham’s pinpoint delivery fizzed through the air, and Alex Tringham lost his man and powered his header against the bar and away to safety.
Three minutes later though the equaliser arrived, as Ash Daly’s whipped a freekick in from 25 yards out on the left, which skipped through bodies and into the bottom corner of Frank Woodcock’s net.
Derwent responded by replacing the ineffective David Kirk with Jamie Trant, and immediately threatened to retake their lead, as Sim had to be alert to deny Easter latching onto a lofted through ball.
And the scores were only level for six minutes, as in the 43rd minute the Easter and Atherton combination restored Derwent’s lead. After clever build up play, Easter produced a delightfully executed through ball into the path of Atherton, who calmly slotted home into the bottom corner to put Derwent 2-1 ahead.
The contest though twisted once more in the 47th minute, as Halifax captain Matt Darling equalised from the penalty spot. Referee Dan Horsfall signalled for a penalty after a push in the area, and Darling confidently drilled his penalty into the bottom left hand corner sending Woodcock the wrong way.
And a minute later the turn around was complete, as a long ball caused havoc in the Derwent defence. Goalkeeper Frank Woodcock raced out to deal with the threat, but a miscommunication saw Brandreth nod the ball over his onrushing ‘keeper and into the path of Connor Meckin who gratefully slotted into an empty net.
Behind for the first time, Derwent rallied, and threatened an equaliser as Sim pushed a Brandreth long throw over his bar. The resulting corner saw Sam Earle whip a dangerous corner, which was met by Mirhire Overo-Tarimo, but the midfielder was unable to direct his header goalbound.
Derwent pushed for a late equaliser, with efforts from Easter and Overo-Tarimo, whilst Seed made a crucial intervention in the last minute. The resulting corner saw ‘keeper Woodcock venture forward, and he rose to meet the corner, but his header looped in the air and to safety, as Dan Horsfall signalled the end of a fascinating contest, meaning that Halifax 1sts lift the College Cup for the second time in three years.
An elated Matt Darling told Vision: “It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had, absolutely unbelievable. I genuinely thought we deserved it. First mention goes to Derwent, they’ve had a great tournament and a lot of their boys will come back next year. In terms of us, we played well and did what we needed to do.” On his penalty, Darling added: “I really didn’t feel nervous. I’ve had two penalties in this tournament and I just went the same way, and luckily it went in.”
His Derwent counterpart, Ollie Harrison, said: “It’s a hard one to take but we played our socks off but at the end of the day, our mistakes let us down. You can’t come into a final and concede three goals – they battled and put them away so congratulations to them. Going forward, we’re only losing two players – Kirky [David Kirk] and Dathers [Dan Atherton] who will be a loss but we’re going to have something to build on next year. Whoever the next captain is, they’re going to have a fantastic set of boys to work with and come next year, we’ll be in a stronger position.”
Derwent 1sts: Woodcock; D’Albertanson, Brandreth, Belshaw, Harrison; Earle, Overo-Tarimo; Easter, Gwinnett, Atherton; Kirk (Trant, 38).
Halifax 1sts: Sim; Bowden, Tringham, Seed, Darling (Lewis, 50); Jones, Daly, Mawdesley, McCoy (Gennoy, 45); Day, Denham (Meckin, 41).