BUCS Southern Premier League leaders Cambridge came from behind in impressive style to defeat second-placed Oxford 10-4, maintaining their 100% winning record.  After a sluggish start, Cambridge gradually upped the tempo during the first half before an under-fire Oxford ceded to sustained attack in the second, Light Blue talisman Georgie Hurt (below right) taking five of Cambridge’s ten goals.

Cambridge dominated possession in the early stage of the match but even after some eight minutes of continuous possession in and around the twelve-metre fan they could only muster a limp shot that barely rolled to the Oxford keeper. Thirty seconds later and Oxford had opened the scoring with a brazen counter-attack that made a mockery of Cambridge’s early wariness.

Cambridge tried the patient approach again from the restart and continued to frustrate with good ball distribution behind the goal, searching for the perfect pass that never really presented itself. But following an Oxford counter-attack that this time broke down without a shot on target, Cambridge’s defence launched a long pass some 80 yards to their captain, Ellie Walshe, who had lost her marker. After collecting the pass and spinning inside the last defender, she was fouled. With ample space all around her for the restart, she fired low to pull Cambridge level mid-way through the first half. Cambridge’s breakthrough thus came through a rushed ‘route one’ approach rather than the slow build-up they had so far employed.

Four minutes later, another pedestrian Cambridge build-up was punished by Oxford who found themselves with an unmarked attacker on the edge of the arc.  At this point Georgie Hurt seemed to take the game into her own hands; rather than dithering on the edge of the fan, she made her strength tell as she twisted and turned her way past three defenders and unleashed a shot past a helpless Oxford goalkeeper.

With the score at 2-2 Oxford were cruelly denied taking the lead again after a pair of shots hit the wood-work within a minute of each other. Cambridge made their lucky break count with a clever assist from Ellie Walshe, who scooped a high ball to last year’s other co-captain, the tall Gen Gotla, who collected and shot in one fell swoop to ensure Cambridge were in front going into half-time.

Gotla started the second half as she had ended the first, netting herself a second goal, before being sin-binned for the less glorious contribution of a violent body-check on an oncoming Oxford attacker.  The ensuing free shot was converted by Oxford, who completed their comeback shortly after as their blocked shot somehow managed to creep just over the goal line. Despite a conference between the two referees, the goal stood and the game was once more balanced at 4-4.

The level scores injected the urgency that a cruising Cambridge needed, and Hurt once again showed her class with a nimble-footed dash into the fan that confounded Oxford’s defence and gave Cambridge the lead once more. Walshe and Hurt then exchanged lightning-quick passes to give the latter the chance to complete her hat-trick. Cambridge’s two-goal lead restored, it became apparent that the next goal would be crucial. And it was Cambridge, now threatening in every attack, who took it, with a neat pass to Laura Plant who planted the ball firmly in the bottom right hand corner.

A desperate Oxford now committed women and energy in attack, but despite their best efforts they were ill-disciplined and not selective enough in their shots. Hurt duly added her fourth and snaked through from the right hand side for her last. But it was the captain’s second goal that was arguably the Blues’ finest as Walshe burst through a narrow gap between two Oxford defenders and scored from a tricky angle and reasonable distance to wrap up the 10-4 victory.

Captain Ellie Walshe was delighted with the performance of her team: “This was a brilliant team performance. The freshers played really well, especially Alana Livesey and Laura Plant. And our experienced players and were so important to the team as well.” She warned, however, that they couldn’t take their form for granted looking forward to the Varsity match in February: “It will be harder. It tends to be quite a level playing field.” On her excellent second-half performance, Georgie Hurt explained, “I got annoyed because I couldn’t get them in the first half, so I was definitely going to get them in the second. It’s always fun beating Oxford.” Let’s hope the same can be achieved in Oxford next February.