Well, where to start this week? After a buoyant start to the campaign, Alcuin 3rds couldn’t quite keep it going with an agonising 1-0 defeat to Vanbrugh 2nds. Still, we remain the only 3rds team to have picked up points off a higher ranked side, and on a different day we might have been able to repeat the feat.
The reason I say ‘on a different day’ is because the day we actually DID play Vanbrugh 2nds was quite possibly the most difficult footballing conditions I have ever encountered. There had been heavy rain for a good hour or so before the match, but it was positively torrential throughout the 60 minutes.
By half time I was completely drenched. I probably didn’t get any wetter in the second half as I’m not sure it was possible to be any wetter. My shirt weighed ten times what it had when I put it on, and my gloves felt like they had lead lining. It was the same for both sides, and neither found the conditions easy.
It would have been nice to play the game in better weather and see if we could have nicked something. Once again we showed that we were no pushovers. We had a couple of chances which could have seen us walk away with a point, but it wasn’t to be.
The refereeing surrounding the goal we conceded was, to say the least, bizarre, though it probably didn’t affect the outcome. A Vanbrugh player took a shot from the edge of the box which looped over my head; I stuck out a paw and tipped the ball onto the bar, only for it to fall into the path of another man in red and blue to tap home from two feet.
All rather normal, you might say. There were appeals for offside on the follow-up, but by the sounds of Alcuin supporters’ on the side line he probably wasn’t. The strange part was that the referee gave the goal for the first shot. The one that hit the bar.
It definitely did not cross the line; the ref said he saw the net ripple, but that is just as easily explained by the reverberations off the bar. I’m not bitter; the follow seemed a legitimate goal, so the end result was identical. Just confused.
Nevertheless, the game ended 1-0. At full time I felt like a horse with a huge handicap, such was the added weight I was carrying in rainwater. I’m just glad Vanbrugh didn’t have too many shots on target, as being freezing cold and carrying extra weight is not conducive to diving or reaction saves.
In other news, next week we play James 1sts. I’m not a religious man, but I will be praying they’re not on top form when we meet them on Friday.
Game of the week
Quite the controversial afternoon was had on Monday, as Vanbrugh 1sts came from 1-0 down to defeat Derwent 1sts 2-1 in the marquee match-up of the group stages.
Derwent took the lead early on, but in controversial circumstances. Tom Brandreth’s header was going in before Max Brewer slid along the line to keep it out. It should have been a penalty (and a red card, one would presume, as well), but instead a goal was given by the referee.
That outcome didn’t really please either team, both feeling somewhat hard-done-by. That Brewer was the one who levelled the scores later in the game just added salt in to the wound, before Keiran O’Dwyer pounced after a defensive mix-up to tap home the winner.
Performance of the week
Honourable mentions for James 1sts as they walloped Goodricke 3rds 12-0, and Langwith 3rds who recovered from their own 9-0 defeat to James 2nds to pick up a backs-against-the-wall point against Halifax 3rds.
But this week it goes to Derwent 2nds, who introduced a cat to some pigeons in Group Two with a 5-0 victory over Wentworth 1sts. Wentworth were understrength but Derwent went for the jugular and ran out big winners. It seems a long time ago that Wentworth ran out spring term champions in convincing fashion.
Player of the week
Ok, ok. I know I picked him last week. But last week he only scored a hat-trick. This week he scored five goals. FIVE. It may have only been against Goodricke 3rds, but it remains a feat which must be recognised.
Stand up, Tom Clarke. A goal-scoring God amongst men in College Cup 2013. A tremendous start to the tournament for him, and James 1sts. I promise I won’t pick him again next week (and, seeing as how he needs to score past me, he probably won’t get any goals anyway*).
*This is a joke. Please don’t take your anger out on me on Friday!
Team of the week
Steve Le Cornu;
Max Brewer, Matthew Elvin, Ralph Gill, Alex Tringham;
Masashi Nozaki, James Davies, Matt Mawdesley, Pete Mabe;
Ryan Doherty, Tom Clarke.
Coming up this week
Monday sees another day filled with even match-ups, the pick being Goodricke 1sts vs Alcuin 1sts in the battle for supremacy in Group Three. Pick up your copy of York Vision on Tuesday for all the reports on Monday’s action. On Tuesday itself, Vanbrugh 1sts will be looking to continue their 100% start to the Cup, but they face a James 2nds side who have also won two out of two so far.
James 3rds have their chance to establish a challenge for a place in the Plate against Alcuin 2nds, whose Cup hopes are also relying on victory. While on Friday, the crunch match between Vanbrugh 2nds and Derwent 2nds in Group Two is the pick, both teams looking to build on unbeaten starts and take the upper hand in the race to finish 2nd in that group.