Stand-in referee Callum Douglas got proceedings underway on 22 acres, where York and Lancaster’s respective College Football League winners contested a red-letter Roses fixture. It marked a change for Derwent who had been playing mostly on astro-turf in preparation for this game, which became apparent in a cagey start, in which neither side were able to get their rhythm on the more uneven surface.
The crowd of 50, including Derwent Provost Rob Aitken, had to wait 15 minutes for the game to bring its first real chance. A searching right field cross from Xander Brinkworth found Jake Farrell, who dragged his shot wide. It was to be a sign of things to come, as Derwent began to take control of the match. Jon Garness’ left-footed effort went just past the post and the pressure mounted further on the Lonsdale keeper as Matt Hallam hit the target with a trademark free-kick. Derwent finally found a breakthrough when a throw-in from the right was headed in to the path of Jon Garness, who swivelled and shot into the bottom-left corner of the net. It was to be one of the many successful link-ups between the front pairing throughout the match.
Derwent continued exerting pressure on Lonsdale. Matt Hallam failed to keep a shot down well before delivering a free-kick, which Josh Baines narrowly failed to reach. Most appropriately it was Xander Brinkworth who initiated the final say on the half; his perfectly weighted threw ball left the Lonsdale defence in a complete mess and the defender haphazardly passed the ball past his goalkeeper into his own net.
The start of the second half saw Lonsdale make their first effort on goal; a header which went the wrong side of Seb Treasure’s post. But it was Derwent who were dominating the game, and in the space of 10 minutes, striker David Kirk could have scored a hat-trick. Having been denied a couple of times, Kirk converted a Steve Walwyn cross by hammering in from close range making it 3-0 to Derwent.
Derwent saw off the final minutes much more brightly; bringing on Dan Atherton for a brief run around before his university 1sts match later. The win provided more triumph to an already impressive season for the blues. Captain Joe Boughtflower felt that the team “looked good and really convincing”, as he now looks towards tomorrow meeting with Langwith 2nds in the College Cup.