Latest Sport

Varsity Football: Highs and Lows

As Kent and Christchurch played their part in varsity through-out Wednesday, there were highs and lows in the football results for our university sides.

ON A HIGH, four of our five college teams finished the day unbeaten against Christchurch opposition, as Keynes FC opened the proceedings with an 8-1 thrashing of CC5s on the 3G pitch. First half goals from Simon Newton, Ross Holland and Ryan Waterman gave them a comfortable lead at the interval. The impressive Ryan Waterman added his second after the break, before Jason Harmen replied with a mere consolation strike for the visitors. Further goals from Edan Cummins, Saif Dirani and a double from Luke Wilkinson completed the emphatic rout for Keynes FC.

MOTM – Joseph Adekoya (KFC) – Great use of the ball and always worked hard to retain possession for his side.

Parkwood FC and Parkwood United also saw off CC opposition in their afternoon fixtures. Parkwood FC swept Diamond Geezers aside with a 3-1 victory on the 3G. All the goals came in the second half with strikes from Ryan Chuck, Yannick Michael Buditu and a well-timed volley from substitute Michael Cornall, securing the victory. Diamond Geezers had something to smile about when their pacey right winger Chris Miles, carefully dispatched his effort past the Parkwood FC keeper. However, it soon faded when an awkward landing saw Miles leaving the field with a suspected broken ankle and his team failing to recover from the two goal deficit.

MOTM – Matty Mitchell (PWFC) – Caused chaos down the right with his mazy runs and got involved in everything positive about FC’s attacking play.

Parkwood United continued the college’s winning run as they beat CC6 4-1, all the goals coming in a frantic first half. United were awarded a fortuitous penalty early on, Richard Brown confidently converting the spot kick to give them a 1-0 lead. Their lead was doubled when Tom Dickerson’s swirling cross from the right was met by the head of Anthony Ford and past the powerless keeper. CC6 got one back when the ball somehow found its way into the net from a resultant corner. But any chance of a comeback quickly disintegrated when two identical headers from Laurie Newnes and Paul Knox, gave Parkwood United a more than comfortable victory.

MOTM – Tom Dickerson (PWU) – Ever present performance for United, setting up three of their four goals.

Elliot ACS will be pleased with their performance, despite losing 3-1 to a strong CC4 outfit. ACs – who were missing their first choice centre half’s, Jamie Reynolds and Rob Lorkin – held their opponents till the interval and were unfortunate not to capitalise on their wind advantage in the first half. After fifteen minutes of the second half, CC’s pressure started to tell and they hit three in quick succession; Sam Prescott, Nick Wilson and Mark Rothery getting on the score sheet for CC. ACS continued to work hard and managed to deny CC a clean sheet, when substitute Seb Pearse’s effort deflected past the keeper to leave the final score at 3-1.

MOTM – Tom Scott Bell (Elliot Acs) – The Acs keepers was unbelievable for his side, keeping out CC on many occasions.

The final college game proved to be the closest encounter as Darwin Towers lost 4-2 on penalties to C4 Rejects, after drawing 1-1 over the 90. It was Towers who took the lead after about half-hour when full back James Budge received the ball from a Steven Courtney throw and floated a well-placed cross onto the head of Jonathan Klugg and past the keeper. However, a second half equaliser from Reject’s Martin Thomas left the contest all square with Reject’s going on to win the contest 4-2 on penalties.

MOTM – Jonathan Klugg (Darwin Towers) – Always looked to get forward when in possession of the ball and proved difficult to contain.

Kent’s Penal-freeze

On the chilly Wednesday afternoon the top three fixtures were all close contests, but ended disappointing in terms of results as two of our sides lost out on penalties and our 2nds just missing out on a shoot-out decider, after conceding a late injury time goal.

Kent 3rds took part in a physical contest and we’re unfortunately beaten 5-4 on penalties, after battling to a 2-2 draw over the ninety. Christian Seere had given the 3rds an early lead when he superbly placed his 20 yard free kick past the keeper. It didn’t last for long and goals from Nick Partridge and Joe Croft quickly turned the tie on its head. A second half strike from Kent’s Bolaji Ali Balugon put the game in balance again, after Rob Ivermee’s shot was saved from close range. Our Kent side frantically pressured the CC goal in the dying minutes, but the game eventually went to penalties with two of our players missing from the spot to give CC a 5-4 win.

MOTM – James Warner (Kent Thirds) – Stood out for his strong and resolute defending, winning the majority of headers for our Kent team.

In another close game, our Kent 2nds were minutes away from a penalty shoot out, but for an injury time goal gave CC2 a 2-1 victory. In what was a close contest between the two sides, Liam Biddes nodded in from a corner to give CC a half time lead. Kent responded quickly after the restart when Jason Sowle struck his well-placed volley beyond the CC keeper. The game looked destined for penalties as both teams cancelled each other out at either end, but once again set-pieces proved to be Kent’s downfall. In the final minutes a long throw, which Kent were unable to clear, caused havoc in the area and ended up in the back of the net to give CC a 2-1 win.

MOTM – Leondra Douglas (Kent Seconds) – the centre half magnificently marshalled Kent’s defence and produced an inspiring performance.

In the big game of the day it was déjà vu, as our Kent firsts were desperately unlucky to lose on penalties to their CC rivals.

It was CC who took the lead after about 10 minutes when some smart build up play eventually saw Drew Grant excellently finish off the move for CC. With about 10 minutes to go before half time David Stubbs broke into the area and won a dubious penalty for Kent, which James Robins confidently converted to level the scores at half time.

Both teams failed to get going in the second half, but it was our Kent side who took the lead when Drew Walsh’s dangerously delivered corner found the excellent Robins, who headed past the keeper to claim his second and make it 2-1 to Kent. CC soon found another gear and Dave Bleech equalised, heading in from a corner to make it 2-2. As the game drew towards the 90, CC pressured the Kent goal and the magnificent Matt Davis made a number of important saves to keep the scores level and force a penalty shoot-out.

Kent started the shoot-out well going into a 3-2 lead with David Stubbs, Drew Walsh and Robins all on target. But two misses from our Kent side meant it was 3-3 after five penalties and the resulting sudden death saw our side unfortunately lose 5-4.

MOM – James Robins (1sts) – our Captain marvel produced a sensational display proving to be a lethal threat to his opponents and calmly converting two penalties for his side.

Team: Matt Davis, Sean Eferakhoro, Jason Lennard, Chris McDermott, James Robins (c), Elliot O’Reilly, Drew Walsh, Alex Nelson, Simon Woodward (Chris Scannell), David Stubbs, Freddy Newman (Keegan Gwendu)

Comments

• Nice article man, covered all the games too

  By Jason on 15.3.2024

  If you are unhappy with this comment please refer to our terms and conditions and contact us with any any concerns.