Loughborough’s football 1sts took on Durham University in a pulsating, five goal thriller of BUCS Premier North fixture. Daniel Archer was at the game to see Durham sneak a dramatic late 3-2 win.
With only one place separating these two sides in the table, the game was massive for both sides. The game started in an open manner, with the game already end to end when the first chance came in the ninth minute.
A Durham corner was whipped into the middle, and with Loughborough unable to clear, a goal mouth scramble ensued. Loughborough somehow keeping the ball out and keep the score at 0-0.
The first real chance of note came to Durham in the 13th minute as their striker was sent through on goal, only to fire straight at the Loughborough goalkeeper’s legs.
The game entered a slight lull until Loughborough won a free kick in the 34th minute. The kick was tipped onto the post by the Durham goalkeeper, which was the closest either side came to an opening goal in the first half.
The second half was a goal fest, with the first goal coming in the 54th minute, as Durham took the lead. A corner was delivered in from the left towards the back post, and after being headed back across goal, the ball was bundled into the net for 1-0.
The goal appeared to spark Loughborough into life and it only took 13 minutes for them to get back on level terms. A shot from distance was spilled by the Durham keeper, and as he went to re-gather the ball, he took away the striker’s legs to concede a clear penalty. The resulting penalty was smashed into the top left corner to make the score 1-1.
Loughborough were galvanised by their equaliser and they were now turning the screw and took a deserved lead. With 15 minutes to play, a low shot was well saved by the Durham keeper, but the follow-up was turned home by a Loughborough striker for a 2-1 lead.
With 10 minutes to go, Loughborough looked in control and no-one could have predicted what was to come in the dying stages.
In the 82nd minute, Durham found a shock equaliser, when neat link up play between the front two gave one of their strikers a shooting opportunity. He made no mistake, with a composed finish that found the corner to take the score to 2-2.
With the game heading for a draw, in the 91st minute Durham managed to snatch the three points with a late, dramatic goal. A long kick from the goalkeeper was controlled by the centre forward; who took it past the goalkeeper and rolled the ball into the bottom corner to leave Loughborough pondering what might have been.
Dan Archer
