Results: 31st October

[Tree13]

Cambridge 11 - 10 Brighton Panthers

Brighton's second team, mostly freshers, staged an epic comeback after Cambridge dominated the first half.

Goals were in no short supply at the King's and Selwyn Colleges sports ground on Hallowe'en, and the first quarter saw the Brighton defence get carved up like the token blonde cheerleader in a scary movie. Cambridge's front three created space and provided precision passing for their pacy attacking middies, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye the Oxford rejects were leading 4 - 0. Brighton's solitary riposte saw captain Joe Slade sky a shot so far over the bar that I'd be surprised if the ball has returned to Earth yet.

The second quarter saw some adjustments in Brighton's tactics and suddenly the game began to look more even. The draw, easily dominated by Cambridge in the 1st, became an interesting contest as both teams used a succession of different players to try and get an advantage. The hosts regularly cycled through their subs and the repeated introduction of fresh legs continued to cause Brighton's defence some problems, but the use of short, early passes allowed Brighton to achieve some parity with the pacy Cambridge midfield. Two more Cambridge goals were answered by a single score by the visitors and the half ended 6 - 1 to Cambridge.

The third quarter was an ENTIRELY different story... Brighton keeper Jack Smith made a succession of gutsy saves early in the second half and his accurate distribution saw Brighton able to run some fast-break clears, particularly through freshers Jack Norton and Brad Hiscoke. In doing so, Brighton managed to blunt Cambridge's attack by starving them of possession. Some intelligent cutting by Brighton's fresher forwards, Lexy Timms and Alex Dutch, created space for Charlie Leak to wreak havoc with her late runs and Brighton scored five goals. Stunned, Cambridge replied with three scores themselves and the 3rd quarter finished 9 - 6.

The fourth quarter began with an exceptional goal from Cambridge, but this seemed to inspire Brighton to greater efforts. More tactical adjustments saw the visitors push players forward, leaving freshers Lauren Raison and Sarah Pattisson as the only defenders but both girls played some outstanding defence in the closing minutes, three times forcing turnovers by tying up the ball-carrier for the five count. Cambridge's earlier pace advantage seemed to seep away as Brighton dominated the ground balls and more of the short, early passing mentioned above saw Brighton score three times in quick succession to make it 10 - 9. The spectators were clearly enjoying an action-packed final quarter and the game truly hung in the balance in the closing minutes. Cambridge scored again to make it 11 - 9, but it was against the run of play as Brighton heaped pressure upon Cambridge's goal, forcing a number of fine saves from the host goalkeeper. Nevertheless, the death-or-glory approach yielded another goal for Brighton and as the clock neared zero Brighton were on the attack again. Cambridge's defence had taken a fearful battering in the second half but managed to stiffen at the vital moment, holding Brighton at bay for the last few seconds. Final score 11 - 10

Thanks very much to Cambridge for a well-fought game which was taxing, fierce and ultimately played in very good spirits - I think I saw just one penalty called in the entire match. We look forward to hosting you for the return fixture.

[samaleyo]

Cambridge's front three created space and provided precision passing for their pacy attacking middies, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye the Oxford rejects were leading 4 - 0.

What's this about?? No need to get rude!

[Tree13]

Hey Sam, no offence intended Hopefully you can see from the tone of the rest of the post that it's all in jest.

Well done on saturday btw - except for blocking my shot in the first quarter grrrrrrr

[Knight22]

Oxford Uni 13 Southampton Uni 1