College football: Derwent 2-1 James

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Photos: Zoe Bennell

Sunday’s highly anticipated Derwent vs James encounter took place under a turbulent sky with conditions on the field to match.

The game started in peculiar circumstance as an absent official forced the two teams to referee themselves for the first half an hour. Fortunately for the integrity of the game, James’ 17th minute strike lacked any sort of controversy and saw them capitalise on a fast start to the game; Sam Taylor’s bludgeoning drive a promising start to an otherwise quiet 90 minutes.

The half following the goal was quiet in terms of events, however, if not out standing performances. For James, chirpy left-winger Spilsberg answered his teams calls of “go on Spilsy” with driving runs into his opponents turf.

Such positive play was met with an equally efficient Derwent defence, who rebuttled chipped-through balls with big blue and black heads.

In the passage of play before the break, Derwent’s initiative came mostly in the form of Kirk, the athletic number 10 who struck wide of the goal following a contentious call of no foul from the newly instated referee.

The half-time interval saw rallying calls from the Derwent camp, who came out shoelaces tied, socks pulled up and guns blazing. Nippy new blood Masashi tore up the wing with an impressive turn of speed, only out shined by Sam Earle’s huge boot into the sky; the crowd craning in wonderment as it arced over the ant like players below.

Derwent’s pressure remained somewhat ineffectual for the opening minutes of the second half, however, with the period’s only shot coming from outside the area and struck by James’ young faced Jopson.

The tense nature of a fast paced yet scrappy beginning to the half saw tensions flare on both sides, with the aforementioned Spilsberg’s efforts met only with a boot to the groin and calls of dissent as again, no foul was called.

Uni 2s player and James’ captain Josh Spurling struck an interesting presence on the sideline, offering uplifting boosts of confidence to his boys and a constant stream of condescension to the referee. His exasperated calls reaching fever pitch as Derwent evened the tables with a one-two pass inside the box that looked more than potentially offside.

The shock goal opened up the match and during the ten minutes of frenetic play that followed, Derwent’s number 7 came close twice and signs of intent appeared from the James faction.

The advantage of such a spell went Derwent’s way as a handball inside the box led to a classily tucked away penalty come from the boot of Belshaw.

Minutes later a second penalty was denied Derwent and the game slowly plodded to a finish with the score 2-1. An impressive victory for a Derwent team who looked keen, but by no means dominant.