Football firsts end season with Sheffield defeat
UNIVERSITY OF YORK FIRSTS 1 vs. UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD FIRSTS 2
BUCS Northern Conference 2B, Wednesday 18th March 2009
On a sun-drenched 22 Acres, York’s football firsts finished their BUCS League season with a 2-1 loss to the University of Sheffield.
It was tricky game played in hot conditions – not a fantastic spectacle for the large crowd that came to watch. The result changes little – York were safe from relegation before the game – but there is still a possibility that York will be required to play a relegation play-off with the University of Teesside.
Sheffield enjoyed large periods of possession in midfield but were unable to create many clear chances. They were kept out by the good defensive work of Greg Gardner and Laurie Swan who, along with the similarly competent Sheffield defence, kept the game tight and close.
In the early stages, however, the York defence looked shaky. A Sheffield corner was defended poorly and only a terrible miss prevented the visitors from taking an early lead. York soon got themselves organised, but Sheffield were dominating.
York’s best early chance came when a clearance from the Sheffield goalkeeper was hit straight into Tom Wilson and deflected to the feet of Dom O’Shea. O’Shea – whose superb footwork was the best thing about the home side’s attack all afternoon – missed from a difficult angle.
York were beginning to look better, but a rare poor clearance from Swan went straight to an opposition player. He passed it across the goal for an easy Sheffield tap-in and the visitors were ahead.
The lead was only to last for a minute as York eventually managed to break through the Sheffield defence and have a decent chance on goal. Striker Anton Murphy calmly sent his shot past the goalkeeper.
York then enjoyed their best period of the game: O’Shea and the hardworking Joe Brennan caused Sheffield massive problems, and York had a number of chances to take the lead. The best of these fell to Wilson when he was fed a perfect ball by O’Shea but the shot was just saved. It was the last major incident in a half that was to become increasingly dull as York began to stop Sheffield creating space.
The home side started the second-half better as the game became more and more physical. Goalkeeper Andrew Emmerson was victim of a hard challenge and looked hurt, but the man voted ‘player of the season’ quickly recovered.
York continued to defend deep as Sheffield piled on the pressure. The visitors’ dominance was winning them constant corners and one of them was placed perfectly for the striker to impressively head home. York brought on Chris Barnett and then Mark Gouland, with the latter looking instantly bright.
The rest of the half would see York dominating the game but not creating chances. York’s best opportunity came with a corner in the last few minutes where even keeper Emmerson came up to attack. When the corner was defended Sheffield nearly took advantage of the open goal but the goal they scored was disallowed for being offside. York pressurised but Sheffield held on.
Afterwards Captain Matt Witherwick praised his team for a good term where they had turned around their season. He complimented Alex Cooper, just back from injury, for a good display and said he was “proud of the team”. York only got one point last term – when they threw away a two goal lead in today’s corresponding fixture – yet they have played well and survived relegation. After the game they looked disappointed, but know only their hard work this term stopped the result from being much more costly
York line-up – Andrew Emmerson (GK), Laurie Swan, Greg Gardner, Alex Cooper, Joe Brennan, Ed Murrills, Mark McLeod, Matt Witherwick (c), Thomas Wilson, Dominic O’Shea, Anton Murphy
Substitutes: Mark Gouland, Chris Barnett, Shaun Evans
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A well written and interesting article. nice work.