Worcester march to title glory
Tight tussle: On the day there wasn’t much to decide been these teams, but Worcester ended up runaway league winners.
In 90 minutes of football, nightmares can happen while dreams are fulfilled. Both occurred in this thrilling match-up between the top two teams in the Premier League. Up until 80 minutes it had seemed as though Catz were going to do what no team has done in the league this season, and beat the nowcrowned Premiership champions. But it wasn’t to be, as Worcester showed tremendous class in the last 10 minutes to leave Catz shell-shocked, and the champions euphoric.
Both teams knew this would be a huge test, and were evenly matched for most of the first half. Catz were excellent tactically, putting workhorse Will Johnson tight on Alex Toogood for the whole game, nullifying the striker’s impact. It was Catz who created the early openings, as good movement by Chris Bargate and quick balls through left the Worcester keeper with some early saves to make.
Twenty minutes in, an overhead shot by Captain Ben Isaacs was headed toward goal by Will Johnson, who could only strike the Worcester woodwork as the static defence looked on. On 35 minutes however, Chris Bargate broke the deadlock, using his quick pace to break free from the defence and connect with his left foot from 15 yards out. It was all that Catz deserved, but, to their credit, Worcester remained focused.
The game was far from won, and yet 10 minutes after the break it seemed as though Catz may have put their rivals to bed. In a carbon copy of the first goal, Chris Bargate broke free on the left, and slotted the ball past the keeper with a shot off the outside of his right boot. For all their effort though, Catz began to grow tired from then on, and struggled to create chances.
The loss of Archie Hardyment at half time to injury began to be felt by Catz, and Worcester started to move further up the field. Little by little they tightened the screw, though none could have foreseen the drama that was to unravel, with Lucian Weston taking centrestage. The Worcester number seven had only scored once for his side before this game, but evidently put his shooting boots on for this match.
On 80 minutes a long throw from the right was left to bounce, and Weston pounced, heading the ball into the roof of the net. Immediately affected, Catz looked nervous, while Worcester smelt blood. Just minutes later a ball from the right was met in the area by a crowd of players, only to be pushed out to Weston. His drive through the box had the net bulging and the crowd roaring. Catz’ heads dropped to the floor, and disaster struck straight from the kick off.
Winning the ball back, Mike Hobbiss stroked the ball out to the left winger, who beat his man and knocked the ball to the penalty spot. There, an unmarked and waiting Lucian Weston pounced to send the net bulging and complete this remarkable comeback. Worcester captain and central midfielder Mike Hobbiss said he was “delighted”, adding that he was proud of the entire team for their performance this season.
“To come from behind,” he said, as champagne passed between the players, “showed that in order to win this league you need good spirit as well as good players.” For the neutral, this game was a wonderful advert for college football. Both teams showed passion, fight, and guts, but only one team could come out on top, and this season it was Worcester.
2nd Mar 2006