Friday 08-12-2017 - 16:38

This week started on a slightly low-spirited note, as it was the last proper BUCS week before Christmas (I mean, I'm celebrating because I don't have to think about fixtures or transport for the next 3 weeks... woohoo). But, yes it's a very sad week for our teams! We had a total of 7 home games and 14 away games on Wednesday, so let's see how our teams got on...

Starting with our Rugby Union Men's teams. First up we have our 1st team. This week they hosted Liverpool's 3rd team (after a 3 week period wthout a game). The boys knew that nothing short of a bonus point victory would be enough to keep their hopes (and our hopes) of them winning the league alive!! The game started off as a scrappy affair and the "game day rust" was obvious from the first 5 minutes, as the boys made mistakes they wouldn't normally make. Despite the poor start, Edge Hill took an early lead after turning over the ball at a lineout and Andy Adams burst through 3 tackles to score the first try of the day! Unfortunately the next 10 minutes appeared to be wave after wave of Liverpool attacks, but our defence stayed strong. Thankfully the boys' hard defensive work paid off and the ball was then turned over and with some nice play, they won a peanlty. With a quick "tap and go", Connor Scrivens bundled over the line for another try. Now coming up, has been described as the try of the game. So get ready for this... Straight from the kick off, with quick hands and feet, Alex Tenev found some space to break and he scored underneath the posts. This left the score at half time as an easy 19-0 to Edge Hill (yay!!). Into the second half. Our boys looked like a completely different team. They were playing with much more confidence and flair and this is shown by the fact that Liverpool never had possession in Edge Hill's half for the rest of the game (how amazing is that?!). Edge Hill's next try came from a scrum. Alex Tenev was again, able to pick and go to score his 2nd try of the game. The game finished with Tom Egerton showing off with some fancy feet to avoid tackles to get another try. The boys didn't want the 2nd half to end as they where really starting to show some great skills but the game closed with the beavers getting yet another home cleansheet this season. Finishing with an unbelievable 50-0 win!

Now for the Men's 2nd team. They travelled to Chester, in hopes of continuing their great run of form. Unfortunately for them, they travelled with a depleted team as many regular starting players were not available due to injury, assignments and placements. Sadly, things didn't get any better from this moment on. Nothing seemed to be going the boys way, as they arrived at the opposition's Rugby pitch and were welcomed with a hilly and boggy environment. The boys knew that they wouldn't be able to use their pacey and skillful backline due to this. The first half started with the boys playing up the hill and Chester's advantage was noticeable as they dominated possession. The boys tackled for their lives but a couple of mistakes allowed Chester to come in at half time leading 17-0. The second half was a very much a different story, the boys started playing with the flair and the ability they knew they had and they dominated possession, however a very good Chester defence was hard to beat. After going 3 years without a try Captain Callum Westlake has now made it 2 in 2 games as he drove over the line from close range. The game started to become a very frustrating affair as the boys kept getting closer and closer to another try but handling errors and a great opposition defence made it very difficult. The game ended with a 22-5 win to Chester. Even though the result didn't go the way the boys had originally hoped, they did themselves (and us) proud by playing with a lot of heart when everything seemed to be against them!

We'll move onto our Men's and Women's Hockey teams and we'll begin with our Men's 1st team. They faced one of their biggest fixtures of the whole season against rivals Chester. It was always going to be a tight game, which became evident as soon as the game began. Captain Jac Horwood came through with a shot that gave an early lead to Edge Hill and this got the game off to a great start! Strong attacking efforts were coming from both teams. The opposition levelled the scoreline after a short corner with a clinical dragflick, despite our goalkeeper Tom Dodd getting a touch to the ball. Very unlucky for our boys! The action contined as Sam Butler struck the post after an expert piece of passing play down the right wing. Connor Lloyd's first-time strike from the top of the D rattled the crossbar, which left the score as 1-1 at half time. Soon into the second half, Chester doubled their tally with a brilliant reverse strike that hit the underside of the cross bar and sadly went into our goal. One of the umpires described the shot as "unstoppable", so Tom has no reason to feel bad about not being able to save it!! Jac Horwood came back with two further goals for Edge Hill and this brought the scoreline to a strong 3-2. Chester managed to squeeze the ball over the line after a scramble in defense and after another goal, they took the lead at 4-3. The second half drama didn't stop there. Jac Horwood was once again involved in the home team's 4th goal with a chest height cross, that Matthew Stacey deflected incredibly into the goal, which once again the umpire commented saying it was one of the best goals he'd seen when umpiring! The Final, and winning, goal came from a short corner, won by Dan Thomas but scored by Edge Hills own George Thompson, who drag flicked into the top right corner of the net. With emotions running high a last minute short corner was conceded by the home side, saved and cleared by defenders Ted and Ross Hall to end the game. A cracking game and cracking result for the team. What a great way to end the year 5-4!

For our Women's Hockey 2nd team, it was a bit of a rollercoaster start to the game! After arriving in Manchester, they were told that one of the floodlights had broken and they were unable to play. However, at the very last minute they were told to do a last minute warm up and get ready to play. Following a rushed and unorganised start, bad umpiring decisions and an end to end game, the girls did amazingly well to come away with a 2-2 draw. Man of the match went to Sophie Christopherson for another great performance and the infamous 'D*ck of the day' went to Mel for falling over on multiple occassions. 

Finally, we have our Men's and Women's Badminton teams. The first match of the day came from our Women's 2nd team who faced Salford. All the girls played with pure determination and it was clear that they had been working super hard in training, as it was clearly paying off! They came away with a fantastic 8-0 win and player of the match went to Alicia Partridge for another fab performance. A special shoutout goes to Olivia McCusker and Holly Shippen as unfortunately it was their last games for Edge Hill due to placements starting next year. Amazing work this year girls!! Proud of both of you.

Onto our Men's 3rd team now, who's rivals were Manchester Met! The boys had a "fun" start to the match as they came accross an opposition player who thought he knew best. But they didn't let this afffect their performances. The boys showed some great court coverage and after a stream of perfectly placed shots, it allowed them to take the win!! The final score came in as 5-3 to Edge Hill and was fully deserved. The whole team were given players of the match. 

Our final game of the day and our final Badminton team was the Men's 4th. They faced Liverpool John Moores, who they knew would be tough competition! It was a huge imporvement in regards to performance from the last time they played each other. Partnerships are coming along nicely and there was some great attacking play. Unfortunately it wasn't enough and the game ended with a 7-1 win to Liverpool! Player of the match was awarded to Ruslan Los. 

That's all for the match reports this week and what a week it's been! 

Before we go, we have some brief summaries of our other BUCS fixtures from Wednesday:

• Men's Football 2nd team drew 2-2 against the University of Manchester
• Men's Rugby League absolutely smashed Leeds Beckett with a 54-6 win
• Men's Football 1st team had a VERY close game against Liverpool John Moores, but came away with a 1-0 win
• Men's Tennis 1st's easily beat Keele 10-2
• Netball 1st's unfortunately lost 51-46 to Lancaster
• Men's Basketball 1st team came home with a 72-52 win over Wrexham
• Netball 4th team dominated UCLAN 56-14
• Netball 2nd's had a close game against Manchester and sadly lost 54-41
• Netball 3rd team had possibly one of the closest games we've had for a while as they beat Cumbria 37-36
• And finally, Men's Basketball 2nd team sadly lost 54-28 to Manchester

Now, that is everything!! I promise you can go now. All teams and individuals have done fantastically once again and we're very proud of all of them. 

Next week is much quieter, as we have only home games on Wednesday! There'll be one last match report on the 13th until the Christmas break. 

See you next week!

#TeamEdgeHill