Promotion For Team Derby Footballers
26 March 2012
Team Derby footballers celebrate their win
Team Derby Men's Football first eleven have won the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Midlands 3B League 2012 - securing the team's promotion to the 2B League next year - after a thrilling 4-1 victory over Nottingham Trent University in the last game of the season.
The team had been unbeaten all year and not lost at home since the 2010 season, so approached the game on March 21 with an understandably high level of confidence.
A good start to the game saw the firsts go close on numerous occasions but Josh Asuman opened the scoring with a close range header.
More good work from Team Derby paid off when Steve Wood made a skilful run on the left wing to centre for Tommy Verrall to finish with another bullet header putting Derby 2-0 up within the half hour.
The game became more even in the second half with Trent having more of the ball but the presence of Michael Nottingham and Ben Irwin in defence prevented any clear cut chances for the side from Nottingham.
Team Derby soon made it 3-0 with a pivotal moment in the match and potentially the season. Club President, Mark Farthing,collected the ball around 35 yards from the opposing goal and his strike from the same distance flew into the roof of the net giving Team Derby a three goal advantage.
Trent did start to come back into the game and their hard work paid off when they pulled one back with 20 minutes remaining.
Substitutes by coach Darren Watts did prove to be successful with Ollie Salami firing a shot across the Trent area for Ryan Watson to poke home.
The goals from Team Derby's Josh star players confirmed their supremacy on the pitch, and the 4-1 result secured them the promotion they deserved.
Article contributed by Sports Participation Officer, Alex Molloy
