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Photos: Jack Western
Hull claimed a controversial 3-1 victory in the women’s football match which lasted only 82 minutes. The home side, a division above York in BUCS, established a 2-0 lead at half time, before York hit back early in the second period with a strike from substitute Rohanna Nilsson.
York piled on the pressure searching for an equaliser, but Hull broke away on the counter-attack to put the result beyond doubt at 3-1 with eight minutes remaining.
But to everyone’s surprise, the referee blew the whistle for full time, curtailing the match because he had a christening to attend at 1pm. The bizarre circumstances drew complaints from the York players but nothing was done and the result stood, as Hull picked up three important points.
The match began scrappily, but Hull missed a decent chance after seven minutes when the striker dragged a shot narrowly wide. They came even closer when their right midfielder crashed an effort onto the post, as goalkeeper Megan Phillips desperately hacked the ball clear.
But on the quarter hour, Hull found the breakthrough. A mad scramble inside the York area resulted in the ball falling kindly to a Hull player, who tapped the ball home.
York were clearly struggling since most of the team were forced to wear astro shoes after the match was moved from the 3G pitch onto grass due to another mix-up. However, the match could have turned just a minute later, as York were offered an equaliser from the penalty spot when a Hull defender was accused of handball. However, the opportunity was squandered as Ellie Whittaker’s kick flew straight into the gloves of the ‘keeper.
The match entered a lull period with neither side able to regain the initiative. Shortly before half time, though, Hull doubled their advantage, this time after a well-worked move. A neat one-two between the striker and midfielder allowed the latter to surge into the box and deliver a fierce low drive past Phillips into the net.
Nevertheless, a rousing half-time team talk from Amy Johnson fired the York girls up, and within a minute of the restart, they were back in it. Nilsson saw the ‘keeper fumble her initial shot before following up and making no mistake with the rebound, knocking the ball into the corner to bring York to within one goal of Hull’s lead.
The Hull ‘keeper was treated to a barrage of shots as York searched for an equaliser, and on one occasion a defender was forced into a headed goal-line clearance following a mix-up from a corner.
But Hull had the final say on a rare counter-attack to make the score 3-1, a difficult but by no means impossible scoreline to surmount, before the referee controversially brought the game to a close.
Women’s football President Phillips said afterwards: “It was a really good match, even though we didn’t have our usual team. Not everyone had studs and it showed in our performance, as there was a lot of slipping and