Met outclass Uni in Varsity showdown

Women's Football: Leeds Uni 1sts 0-10 Leeds Met 1sts

By Jamie Presland

A rampant Leeds Met side comprehensively beat the Uni in Wednesday’s Varsity showpiece at Beckett’s Park.  Met took control of the game right from the kick off, and stormed into a three goal lead early on through Emma Litman and a brace from Jessica Durran.

Uni were struggling to make an impact, with Met dominant in midfield and launching wave after wave of attack, soon adding a fourth goal through a Laura Gillespie header.

Uni made some headway in the final fifteen minutes of the half, forcing set pieces and looking dangerous at times with good work from forward Rosie Pennell, but Met stamped their authority on

the game with a goal just before the break, slammed into the top corner by Annie Highway after a tidy one-two on the edge of the box.

The second half began promisingly for the visiting Leeds Uni side; Melissa Sutcliffe fired a shot straight at the keeper after a mazy run, whilst the impressive Natalie Brace was always a threat.  Yet Met broke away to score in fortunate circumstances, with Gillespie’s mishit cross floating into the far corner.

What followed was a heavy spell of almost constant Met pressure.  However wasteful finishing in front of goal spared Uni’s blushes.  Yet eventually the visitors gave way, culminating in three goals in the final twenty minutes, substitute Carla Cantrell netting twice either side of Durrant’s third goal of the match, before Emma Courts saw a cross of her own parried into the roof of the net to cap a miserable day for Leeds Uni.

Leeds Met coach Chris Welburn was content with his side’s performance; “Our defence was solid today but at times we were wasteful in front of goal, we could have scored even more!”