The first match of the year for the men’s 2nd team was a friendly against Southampton City B at home.

Fielding a side containing many players for whom this was their first match, the Uni team made a great start, winning the first quarter 1-0 courtesy of an impressive reverse-shot from Robbie Collison.

City B changed their tactics in the second quarter, and now ‘full-pressed’ whenever Uni were in possession. This enabled them to steal the ball and break on three separate occasions, earning them a 1-3 halftime lead.

Uni continued to play well into the second half of the match, but as fatigue started to kick in, several speculative passes were thrown, and City B continued to score from breakaways. Despite a third quarter goal from Will Griffiths, City B replied with 4 of their own, making the score 2-7.

The fourth and final quarter saw the Uni team really try to pick up the intensity, and the team was unlucky to score only 1 goal from several good chances. City B was not so unfortunate, and continued to make the most of their own opportunities, scoring 5.

The final score was 3-12 to City B, yet the score-line does not reflect how close the fixture was. With more match-time and having worked on a few key aspects of their game, this team has great potential for the rest of the year.

Scorers:

2 – Robbie Collison
1 – Will Griffiths

Top Shark:

Ben Atwell