Late Burne header earns Derwent victory over Halifax
Photograph by Justyn Hardcastle
DERWENT COLLEGE 1
HALIFAX COLLEGE 0
Sunday 7th March
A late header from Derwent’s Richard Burne gave them a deserved 1-0 win over Halifax on a sunny 22 Acres this morning. In a game devoid of many genuine opportunities, Derwent just edged it and Halifax Captain Mark Lund was not particularly happy with his side’s performance. Chances were few and far between, with both sides restricted to long shots on goal, and Burne’s goal was decisive in settling the affair.
There was a decidedly jumpers for goalposts feel to the game with Halifax having to pull in one of their reserves to referee the game, who subsequently had no whistle and had to ask another Halifax reserve to time-keep. The first attempt on goal was a speculative 35-yarder from Halifax’s Jack Beadle. The ball dipped over but Roy Moore looked like he may have had it covered in any case. Beadle and Tom Patrickson were both gifted with free headers soon after but they couldn’t capitalise and it remained 0-0.
The first genuine opportunity of the game fell to Derwent. Steve Walwyn earned a corner and, from the set piece, Ben Smith crashed a header against the bar from close range. This initiated a spell of pressure from Derwent who were playing the nice football, prompting inspirational Haliax captain Lund to tell his teammates: “we’re better than this”. Lund’s words seemed to have some affect as UYAFC first teamer Conor Brennan forced a save from Moore before he himself shot over from thirty yards out. The last chance of a quiet first-half fell to Derwent with Smith being denied by Alex Simon. Derwent had controlled much of the possession in the opening 45 minutes but, in truth, both sides had looked toothless going forward with so little happening that Nouse’s reporters were reduced to keepie-uppies to maintain their interest.
Derwent take the aerial route during today’s 1-0 win over Halifax. The result was retribution for last term’s decisive 4-1 defeat, which secured the championship for Halifax. Photograph by Justyn Hardcastle.
The second-half started slightly brighter. A Halifax free-kick was whipped in and Sam Dempsey only narrowly avoided getting on the end of and Beadle had another audacious shot from thirty yards plus – again it cleared the bar but it looked as if it might have had Moore beaten had it been on target. Derwent then went on the offensive; a lovely through ball from Matt Hallam nearly unlocked Halifax’s three centre backs but the ball was eventually cleared.
Lund tried to inject some life into his side with the introduction of Eamonn Geoghegan and it nearly worked as Brennan fashioned some room for himself but Moore got down well to divert his shot wide. After the resultant corner Ben Rea hoofed an unfashionable ball into the box and Patrickson caused some danger but, as was the pattern of the game, it was cleared and the score remained 0-0.
Halifax’s Jack Beadle tries to swing the ball in during today’s defeat. Beadle scored for the UYAFC seconds in midweek but, despite a couple of speculative long-range efforts, could not repeat the trick today. Photograph by Justyn Hardcastle.
Geoghegan curled a free-kick just wide before Brennan was just unable to latch on to a through ball. It now appeared that Halifax were the more likely to grab the winner but once again Derwent responded well with Chris Barnett stinging the palms of Simon at the near post. Henney then cut in from the right but saw his left-foot shot trickle harmlessly into the arms of Simon. Derwent wouldn’t have to wait much longer though as Burne rose highest to nod home a corner from the right and give his side the lead.
Predicatably Halifax pressed forward to try and grab a share of the spoils which meant gaps opened up for Derwent. Barnett forced another good save from Simon, before a last-ditch tackle from Patrickson prevented Smith making it 2-0 to Derwent. Despite some last minute pinball in the Derwent box they held firm and the scoreline remained 1-0.
Lund said afterwards: “I’m disappointed, we’ve got to pick ourselves up. We weren’t good enough today and weren’t at the races”. Dom Henney was unsurprisingly the happier of the two, saying: “it was a good performance today, I think we deserved to win and I’m proud of the lads”. Lund will hope to get back to winning ways next week whereas Henney will hope for more of the same from his team.
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