Unlucky Defeat For Team Derby
Team Derby Men’s Football 2nds were unable to build on last week’s victory against Oxford as they suffered a 5-3 defeat to University of Leicester away from home.
Derby were the better team throughout and dominated the opening exchanges, attacking the opposition defence and looking to take the lead. However, while they continued to threaten, Leicester’s counterattacking strategy saw them find the net five minutes either side of the half-hour mark.
Pablo Mills’ side constantly pushed forward and finally broke through ten minutes after the restart, when Martin Branicky converted from the spot after Kahlil Bowerman was fouled in the area.
Anthony Garmory immediately smashed home what would have been the equaliser, but the striker was judged to be in an offside position.
The goals didn’t stop as Leicester struck twice in quick succession once again and Roderik Valko pulled one back for the visitors with 20 minutes remaining.
There was time for more drama as Timi Williams scored to reduce the deficit to just one goal, and as Derby surged forward in search of an equaliser, their opponents were controversially awarded a penalty which eventually sealed the result.
Goalkeeper Jonny Lappert said after the game: “There are plenty of positives to take against a good team. We feel hard done by some questionable refereeing but that’s football and you have to accept it. Overall, I’m happy with the performance; we gave our 100% and it’s a step in the right direction.”
Derby’s next fixture is against University of Bedfordshire in the Midlands Conference Cup.
BY HRITIKA SHARMA (@Hritika Sharma)
