[visiongallery set=72157629458076511]
Photos: Ellen Rawlins
Four goals from Chris Menon led York 1sts to an emphatic victory over league-leaders Hull in this year’s Varsity.
From the first whistle, York made known their intent to play an energetic, pressing game, hassling their opponents in the midfield with a flurry of stick checks to battle for possession, and making incisive bursts towards goal when they got it, and not long into the match, Chris Menon scored for York, in what was to be his first of four goals.
Hull, on the other hand, were spending large periods of time passing the ball between themselves, showing little intention in their play as they tried to keep the ball away from the York players; the home side, however, seemed content to stay in position and let their opponents stay where they could not do any damage.
When Hull eventually brought the ball upfield, a couple of wayward passes gave York back possession, upon which, the ball was collected by William Chun, who sprinted down the wing and passed to put Andy Chalmers clean through on-goal, York looked certain to go two goals up but for a point-blank reaction save from the Hull keeper.
Early in the second quarter, a reckless body check on Dariush Kamali saw York go a man up and looking to go on the attack, however, they perhaps overcommitted in their eagerness to capitalise on their man advantage, resulting in Hull’s first meaningful attack of the game, and the away team very nearly drew level as their forward received a cross from the left flank but saw his shot cannon off the outside of the post.
York, however, never looked flustered, and responded with another goal, once again, courtesy of Chris Menon, who, following a quality check from Wolfgang We to win the ball, collected a pass upfield and slotted home for his second of the match.
In spite of the deficit, Hull’s tactics remained unchanged as they continued to pass the ball about, looking for an opening. But what initially appeared to be an interesting pass and possession-based game, reminiscent of the continental ‘Total Football’ style made famous by Swansea City, lacked the cutting edge or precision needed to open up their opposition; Hull were dominating possession, but not dictating the game.
In spite of this, some very poor marking allowed Hull back into the game; with Hull’s winger afforded far too much time to make a diagonal run behind the York goal and find an attacker with a simple reverse pass for an easy finish.
Hull shouldn’t have been allowed a sniff of the game, but York rallied resolutely; Hull breathed a sigh of relief as a quality run from Menon culminated in his firing a low-angled shot just wide of the left post, but the ball was won back swiftly by Joe Tebutt and fed back to Menon in the middle, who made no mistake this time, completing his hat-trick with an emphatic shot into the top corner.
The third quarter saw little difference in the balance of play, as Hull could only sporadically present a threat with some hopeful long shots, and even so, Rooks was on top form today, and made a series of effortless catches, which only served to compound Hull’s frustration.
Furthermore, the defence in front of him was watertight, with the whole team working as a flowing but solid unit to effectively smother any danger and attack on the break, it came as no surprise when Chris Menon demonstrated some great movement – exactly what Hull lacked throughout the game – to manoeuvre himself space to get away an intelligent low shot to make it 4 – 1.
It was just one of countless penetrating runs from Menon, who time and time again plunged through the midfield and breached a leaky Hull’s defences. And it just seemed to be York’s day when a shot from Josh Isley was going well wide, but ricocheted off the stick of a Hull defender for an own goal.
Hull made the score look a little more respectable with a goal near the end of the match, but it was far too little, far too late.
York thoroughly deserved their victory and a visibly delighted Seb Swenson had nothing but praise for his players, ‘This has been the team’s best match so far, they’ve been drilling their asses off since last time, so we’re incredibly happy with this result’, and with a result like this against the table- toppers, the squad will no doubt be looking to build on this victory in games to come.