University of Cambridge 3

University of Birmingham Thirds 1

Midlands Conference Cup, Fitzwilliam Sports Ground, Oxford Road

The Cambridge University Association Football Club women’s team reached a second consecutive BUCS Midlands Conference Cup semi-final with a 3-1 victory over the University of Birmingham Women’s Football Club. A brace from Daisy Luff on the stroke of half-time and a goal from Ceylon Hickman proved enough to thwart the West Midlanders’ resistance on Wednesday afternoon at Oxford Road.

Already crowned champions of the Midlands 2B League, Cambridge’s calm first-half possession encapsulated their confidence, never shying away from playing out from the back and eagerly exploiting their skill and pace out wide. But the Blues’ possession did not translate into clear-cut opportunities against a resilient and well-drilled Birmingham side in a keenly contested midfield battle. Jo Butler-Williams and Hannah Vincent screened robustly to stifle Cambridge’s forays forward, while the excellent Marielle Brown was seemingly ubiquitous in sweeping up loose balls and supplying her more offensively-minded teammates.

Yet the match could have been very different had the visitors taken a golden chance at 0–0. A simple ball over the top allowed the pacy and industrious Abigail Asante to race away from Beccie Graves and Linnea Gradin and bear down on goal. Opening her body up, her curling effort was denied by a brilliant fingertip save from Laura Bleehen at full stretch.

The half appeared to be meandering to a goalless close as Birmingham struggled to string together more than a handful of passes despite their good defensive work, while Cambridge’s patient possession only brought some speculative long-range efforts. But five manic minutes before half-time turned the game on its head.

Winning the midfield battle, a direct and beautifully weighted through-ball saw Daisy Luff in a footrace with Sylvia Aske and Lydia Hickson. Bursting through the middle, she composed herself and struck the ball past Abby Cartwright to draw first blood with aplomb.

1–0 then became 2–0 almost immediately afterwards. Zoe Cohen gathered the ball in midfield and drove into the heart of the Birmingham defence, and her intelligent cut-back was received by Luff who, with all the time and space in the world in the middle of the box, set herself and calmly slotted the ball into the left corner. A clichéd analogy to London buses could not have been more appropriate to assess what had until then been a relatively even 45 minutes.

Despite these two bolts from the blue, Birmingham came out fighting in the second half and were presented with a lifeline after Hirst gave away a penalty for tugging at a Birmingham shirt. Hannah Vincent was on hand to step up to the plate and dispatch her spot-kick into the corner to halve the deficit.

The Birmingham goal, however, reinvigorated CUWAFC, as the rest of the match was mostly characterised by Cambridge’s superiority. The two-goal cushion was almost restored straightaway only for the lineswoman to call a narrow offside, whereas Ashcroft and Graves, overlapping to devastating effect from right-back, began to cause havoc for Hickson at left-back. One exquisite ball from Ashcroft in particular begged to be put away, but Ceylon Hickman – left completely unmarked in the middle of the box – somehow contrived to plant her header wide of the far post.

The Light Blues were now peppering the visitors’ goal and exploiting the counter-attacking potential given them by Birmingham’s high line as the away side searched for an equaliser. The inevitable third goal arrived in odd fashion given the silky passing football that had fashioned Cambridge’s previous chances. A corner from Ashcroft ought to have been dealt with by substitute Hanan Ali at the front post, but her sliced clearance found its way to Hickman, whose slightly scuffed effort crept over the line via the inside of the post.

The rest of the encounter was fairly even but the Blues’ defence remained solid and, in truth, the home team ought to have put more icing on the cake. Dynamic on the counter-attack, more chances were squandered by Luff and Hirst, but the Blues had done enough to continue their Cup chances.

Speaking exclusively with Varsity after the final whistle, Birmingham’s Abby Cartwright ruminated on what might have been: “Cambridge are a very, very strong side, but at the end of the day we just couldn’t break them down. We just lost our heads a little bit for five minutes and then it all slip away. But I thought we came back in the second half strong, so I’m a bit gutted.”

Conversely, Cambridge captain Gerda Bachrati was delighted with her side’s win: “The girls played really well,” she said. “We were unlucky with some of the mistakes – that penalty was definitely a kick in the teeth – but I don’t think it was the wrong decision from the referee, so I can’t fault him at all.

“We had most of the possession in that first half, and the goals that we had were a long time coming, and they were from situations we hadn’t used before, so the girls should be really proud of themselves for being so creative up at the top.”

CUAFC: Bleehen, Graves, Gradin, Malley, Bachrati (c), Ashcroft, Brown, Edwards, Cohen, Hirst, Luff

Substitutes: Horsler, Crockett, Hickman

UOBWFC: Cartwright, Salisbury, Lennon (c), Aske, Hickson, Oldham, Butler-Williams, Taylor, Vincent, McGoff, Asante

Substitutes: Barnett, Ali, Patel