Mens 1XI Vs Swansea University Mens 1st

UPHC Men’s 1stXI vs Swansea Uni 1stXI 11/11/15

The unbeaten BUCS team had a new opposition on their hands, Swansea University. A team which UPHC hadn’t faced within recent years, and we all know how university teams can evolve or diminish so rapidly. This Plymouth team was on a huge high after their win against Yeovil, completing their eight game winning streak. However, there seemed to be an unwelcomed spirit knocking on their door. Swansea isn’t an unfamiliar place to UPHC’s captain, in fact it’s where his home lies, and some may even say his heart. 

It was a wet morning. Pathetic fallacy was playing on the captain’s mind, “could this be the end of the winning streak?” or was the scene set for a Swansea loss, with a team who was travelling four hours on an uncomfortable, stuffy coach, with those dusty, orange and red, felt trimmed seats which all of us comprehensive school boys had grown so accustomed to over the years – something last year’s private school educated captain, Piz Buin, wouldn’t know the slightest about, anyway, I digress.

Let us discuss the game itself. I’ll be blunt. It was a poor start for the Plymouth team. There was a lot of complacency in the way they played, but this soon turned into a trashy performance where basics were no longer basic. It seemed unnatural. So we faced the consequences, 0-1 to Swansea.  They had some surprisingly strong players who managed to weave through our press with ease. Our heads were down and their second goal came soon before the end of the half. 0-2 Swansea. The half time talk came and the captain, Kasto, needed to feed his players some energy and motivation. Tactics needed to be adjusted and confidence lifted. We knew the challenge ahead of us. Plymouth reacted well in the second half, with a lovely piece of play ending up with Myrtle placing the ball into the goal. The score was now 1-2.  The table was gradually turning, our performance was rising and theirs depleting. We were now on the attack, regularly attempting to punish Swansea on their mistakes. All of a sudden the ball was fired into the D, well wide of the left post, but our Hong Kong international was there to clean up. A first time sweep towards goal, at an extremely acute angle, managed to catch everyone off guard, but most importantly the Swansea keeper was left baffled when the ball and backboard made that pleasuring knock. 2-2. This was looking bright for Plymouth. We didn’t let the second goal change our performance. Swansea couldn’t cope. They didn’t know how to react. This was the perfect moment for our virtuoso, Marj, to capitalise. After a powerful run, leaving Swansea players for dust, he made it to the edge of the D and buried the ball into the bottom left corner. 3-2 Plymouth with five minutes to go. “DEFEND!” was the command from the captain. However, the thought of a majestic comeback had gotten to our heads. A Swansea player managed to wobble the ball all the way from the half way line, through to our base-line and whipped the ball across the front of our goal. “Scrappy” would be how every single spectator would describe that goal. Sticks flailing, weak clearances, lack of composure all combined to form a Swansea goal just before the final whistle. 3-3. A draw, but a psychological loss. Hopefully Plymouth will regain momentum against Teign on Saturday and manage to end up victors.