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26 Tuesday March 9th 2010YORK VISION SPORT

>SportA CITY divided between universities with an in-tense rivalry would always make for an eventful weekend and despite any attempts by the weather to put a stop to it, Varsity 2010 certainly lived up to it's expectations.

With the University of York renowned for their domi-neering student presence in the city, and occupying the majority of the prestigious sporting facilities in York, St. John's were quite right to be labelled ''underdogs'' going into the event.

The competition was an opportunity for both the Uni-versity of York and St. John's to stake their claim as top sporting dog in the city, with York winning by a com-prehensive margin of 91.25 to St. Johns' 19.25 points. Notable highlights included the success of the netball, caving, tennis, and swimming teams, amongst others, with both men and women proving their capabilities for the University.

Moreover the event was played, on the whole, very sportingly, with both universities refusing to let tem-peratures boil over in the cold weather.

York Sport president Emily Scott also expressed her delight at the result and the fac that Varsity was back on the sporting calender, saying: ''I want to say a huge thank you to everyone involved from both universities over the weekend, as without them Varsity never could have returned.''

The next major sporting event for the University of York is less than two months away, with the Roses Tour-nament scheduled for the beginning of May. The York Sport president was equally happy with the long-term implications of Varsity for the Roses: ''Varsity prepares teams for the type of 'grudge match' you can get with Lancaster.''

And with enthusiastic support across the board Scott was encouraged, stating that this would provide the University of York with the perfect backdrop for Roses.

Scott said: ''there are sizeable crowds watching and giv-ing 'banter' which prepares the players for the type of 'chat' they may receive from the sidelines in Roses'".

Despite Lancaster's inadequate scheduling of this year's Roses, this highly successful Varsity weekend means York will take great confidence into next term's Roses clash.

Judo

VICTORIOUS VARSITY WEEKEND

Varsity certainly demon-strated an array of sporting tal-ent, and thank-fully, our uni-versity posessed the majority. With standout performances in swimming, ten-nis and netball (to name a few), the University of York can stand proud. Whether it was the basket-ball team slam-dunking St.John's, or the caving team scaling new heights, York certainly delivered what many had expected at Varsity. After such an embar-rassing defeat the next YorkSport President will have a difficult job convincing our neighbours to return for another beating!

Any attempts by St. John's to steal the after-party bragging rights were a rarity in Varsity. None-theless, they did managed to bring some pride back to their end of the city. A penalty shoot-out win by St. John's in Game A of the five-a-side, and a loss in the men's hockey, were the only no table low points for the University of York.

One way or another, flooding never seems to leave us York folks alone. If it's not 22 acres feeling the full strain, then it most certainly will be the River Ouse. In this case we were unfor-tunately afflicted by both. Thankfully, liv-ing in 21st century Britain, York Sport is lucky to have classy rowing machines!

BY JOSH MANGHAM

SPORTS CAPTAINS HIT OUT AT 'DESPICABLE' ROSES SCHEDULE

YORK'S SPORT captains have ex-pressed their anger this week at Lancaster's scheduling of the Roses, claiming it is a deliberate attempt to scupper York's chances of victory.

Lancaster's organisers have scheduled this year's Roses tournament for the first weekend of York's summer term, a vital examination period for many of York's students.

With competition due to take place from Friday 30th April till Sunday 2nd May, York's sport teams are set to lose out as key players are forced to skip Roses to sit exams.

York Sport president Emily Scott was forced to admit that players will be "lost to exams", conceding: "There are going to be plenty of people and thus plenty of teams affected."

After being on the wrong end of a 194.5-79.5 thrashing in last year's one-sid-ed Roses tournament, many feel Lancas-ter are trying to give themselves an ad-vantage in the battle to regain the Carter James trophy.

An aggrieved football president Greg Gardner has blasted Lancaster's Sport President today, labelling her attitude "ab-

solutely shocking and despicable".

BITTER

"She's ruined the spirit of Roses by pulling out Lancaster teams she feels will lose, despite this being against the wishes of the Lancaster players themselves."

Gardner goes on to reveal that the foot-ball club will be missing "approximately a third" of its squads, the 1st and 3rd team captains, and two first choice goalkeepers due to exams clashing with Roses. "We've played the main football matches on Sun-day afternoons for decades, but she sud-denly decided to move it to Saturday this year."

And despite Gardner claiming pitches are "completely free to use" on the Sunday afternoon, the Lancaster Sports President has apparently refused to move the games.

POLITI CS

"The way it stands we'll still compete in Roses and go over there with our heads held high and try to get something out of the game, but the whole atmosphere and politics surrounding the games mean this

will surely be the worst Roses in recent history."

Other sports captains have also shown their annoyance, with rugby captain Alex Redshaw expressing regret at Lancaster's attempts to "get their own back" after suffering from exam scheduling conflicts themselves last year.

Women's tennis captain Maria Hunt, has also voiced criticism of Lancaster's scheduling of the Roses, saying it will "definitely have an impact". Hunt bemoans the fact that key players will miss Roses matches, with "some hav-ing exams on Sunday", and even those available for Roses being forced to "miss out on vital training sessions" due to ex-ams.

PRAISE

Gardner and Redshaw reserve praise for York Sport however, with Gardner commending YorkSport for "trying to help York's sport clubs" and attempting to make the Lancaster organisers "real-ise the pettiness of their attitude", whilst Redshaw stressing "York University is not to blame".

Emily Scott has held a diplomatic stance however: "Lancaster faced the same issues last year and we just need to hold our heads up and play hard. As long as everyone does that and enjoys them-selves, I can't ask for much more!"

Sadly though, Scott's optimism can-not hide the fact that York will start this year's Roses at a significant disadvantage.

STEPHEN HOLCROFT LOOKS AT THE HIGHS, THE LOWS, AND THE NO-GOES, AND HOW VARSITY DELIVERED ALL...VISION'S

Can York repeat the shock win on Lancaster's home turf and retain

the cup for a third year?

www.yorkvision.co.ukJOIN THE DEBATE AT

HIGHS

LOWS

NO-GOES

27SPORT

Judo

VICTORIOUS VARSITY WEEKENDVISION: N0.1 FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL

TIPSTER'S ODDS: 3 / 1

FRANCE TO WIN THE GRANDSLAM

THE

15 / 1

SURE THING

A NEW YEAR AND A NEW GENERATION OF THE TIPSTER, LEADING THE PENNILESS STUDENTS OF YORK THROUGH THE PERILOUS WORLD OF

HIGH STAKES GAMBLING...

LONG SHOT

SCHUMACHER TO BE F1 CHAMPION

TIPSTER'S ODDS:

PORTSMOUTH TO WIN THE FA CUP

100 / 1TIPSTER'S ODDS:

AN UNDER-STRENGTH Goodricke team delivered a scrappy 2-0 win over a persistent but otherwise toothless Vanbrugh side.

A pair of late goals from Chris Grayland and Dave Coup-land was enough to see Goodricke emerge victorious and add yet more misery to a disappointing season for the overly cau-tious Vanbrugh.

Despite playing through most of the first half with only ten men Goodricke were more than able to match Vanbrugh. De-spite the extra man Vanbrugh were unable to capitalise and much of the first half occurred without any clear cut chances for either team. The game became mired in a midfield battle of heavy tackles and lumped clearances; the state of the pitch was in some part to blame for a lack of flowing football as the ball bobbled unpredictably with every kick.

Arguably the best chance of the half fell to Vanbrugh’s Isaac Parkinson who found himself through on goal despite Goodricke’s protests of handball. The referee allowed play to continue but Parkinson could only fire wide, his poor finish in-dicative of a first half sorely lacking in quality or excitement.

Goodricke captain Dave Coupland proved his value to the team however with a mazy run straight through the heart of the Vanbrugh defence. A beautifully weighted pass found Matt Sutherland but his shot was cut out by a well-timed tackle from the composed Ash Lockyer. The half ended with both teams de-servedly level.

Goodricke emerged from half time as the brighter of the teams, though the match quickly began to lull as both sides played on the back foot. For 35 minutes the only memorable incident was a Goodricke player being sick on the pitch.

This unfortunate side note could well have summed up a match that thus far had lacked any real or significant interest had it not been for the final ten minutes. Vanbrugh failed to deal with an innocuous looking corner by Coupland and the ball managed to find Chris Grayland who was on hand to loft a header into the top corner of the net.

The lead was doubled minutes later when Matt Sutherland’s pass took a deflection through the Vanbrugh defence and ran into the path of Coupland who produced a composed finish to push the ball past keeper Taylor.

A less-than-pretty win for Goodricke provided three hard earned points. Vanbrugh will be disappointed not to have tak-en anything from a game where they more than held their own.

BY JON COOK BY JOSEPH MCDERMOTT

BY STEPHEN HOLCROFT

TIPSTERDERWENT BEAT HALIFAX TO GO TOP

FRANCE HAVE enjoyed a very comfortable start to their campaign while all the teams around them have looked rather shaky. Having already seen off previous favourites Ireland the French team is in a good position to enjoy total domination of the competition. Only a fool would bet on underdogs Italy to beat a side that is widely considered as unstoppable and inevitably it seems that it will come down to England to halt their progress.

The French team are very much in form though, and with the strength and speed they have in the squad they are more than able to find and exploit England’s many weaknesses.

IT'S A familiar story: another year and anoth-er sporting legend returning to reclaim their crown. This time it’s the god of F1: Michael Schumacher. Considered by many as the great-est driver the sport has ever seen, Schumacher will be looking to add to his awesome total of seven championship victories.

Although he retired back in 2006 this is Schumacher’s second attempt to rejoin the sport (the first being as a problematic, and ulti-mately failed, effort to provide cover for an in-jured Felipe Massa) and now that he is finally back in the driving seat should we expect big things? Whilst he may seem a good prospect for the title he has to be considered a long shot: age, injuries, a lack of practice and the calibre of his competition mean that attaining anoth-er championship may be just beyond his grasp. Mind you, it’s more than worth a punt.

ABSOLUTE MADNESS

TO SAY it’s unlikely that Pompey will win the FA Cup is an understatement; the club is in trouble like the Pope is Catholic. I considered placing this as a long shot bet but as Tipster I feel some sort of responsibility to the reader-ship of Vision, and to recommend placing any money on Portsmouth would be, in the simplest terms, completely unethical.

Through the rose-tinted glasses of the FA Cup it’s easy to see why Portsmouth may be an outside bet to lift the trophy: England can’t help but cheer on the underdogs. The so called ‘mag-ic’ of the FA cup is that anyone can win on the day. Unfortunately this isn’t so. The south coast club, while they may currently retain the serv-ices of several quality players (Belhadj, Utaka, O’Hara), are in dire straits. With either Fulham or Tottenham up next I can’t see them progress-ing any further in the competition.

GOODRICKE 2 VANBRUGH 0DERWENT 1 HALIFAX 0

IN THE battle of college football's elite, a late Ri-chard Burne header sent Derwent to the summit of the table at Haifax's ex-pense. Elsewhere, James and Alcuin both managed to score four goals each in comprehensive victories, whilst Goodricke ran out comfortable winners over Vanbrugh.

With Derwent entering the game two points behind their arch rivals, a win would prove vital. Ed Lacaille and M a r k Fawthrop occu-

pied the front two spots for Derwent, but

had found a frustrat-

ing after-noon capped

with only half chances on goal. Instead,

the onus was left for the Derwent de-

fence to prove their attacking credentials. Ten minutes from time, Richard Burne, clearly not content with keeping Halifax at bay, rose highest to power home the win-ner with an unstoppa-ble header.

Sam Clitheroe and Parris Williams pro-vided the other stand-out performances in the three other match-es. A clinical hat-trick from Clitheroe along with a Simon Mole goal, set up a 4-2 vic-tory for James, with Bruce Starkey's two goal's proving only consolation.

William's for Alcuin play-ing in his accustomed dread-locks, capped off a menacing and industrious display with two goals for himself, and left the Wentworth team languish-

ing at the foot of the table.Goodricke likewise, turned

a scrappy game into an even-tual 2-0 win with goals from Chris Grayland in the first half and Dave Coupland in the second half piling more mis-ery on a Vanbrugh team, who

appeared way too defensive in their play on the day. Hewitt and Taylor's team will have to go back to the drawing board ,and a new injury blow to star man Ali Prince is likely to cause yet more concern for the men in green.

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Pos. Team P LDW GAGF GD Pts.THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL LEAGUE TABLE

IN THE top of the table encounter between two of the heavyweights of college football, Derwent struck late in the game to inflict a deflating loss on a classy Hali-fax team.

The sun was beaming down on 22 acres but neither group of players allowed any shock at such an unusual occurrence interfere with their play, nor were they afforded any time to catch a spring sun tan as a closely fought game boiled down to an engaging midfield duel.

Both teams had claimed 1-0 wins in similarly tricky ties a fortnight ago but it was Derwent who showed more appe-tite for this encounter early on. Halifax attempted to steal the initiative from the outset, Jack Beadle sailing a specula-tive effort from just inside the Derwent half, over the bar as early as the first minute. Derwent responded with some smart passing play which was nearly rewarded 15 minutes later when a Chris Barnett corner was thumped against the bar by the head of Matt Hallam.

Evidently annoyed at having seen their crossbar almost annihilated, Halifax upped their game but found chances few and far between. One fell to Conor Brennan who found a good position just inside the Derwent box but saw his ef-fort easily saved as both sides demonstrated a frustrating incapability of delivering an end product to their neat build up play.

Half time came, and gave a chance for Derwent and Halifax to reassess their game plans, In truth little changed though. Halifax had slightly the better of the play with Jack Beadle and ubiquitous captain Mark Lund, their stand out players, trying to find the decisive through ball, and the introduction of Eamonn Geoghegan gave them fresh legs in midfield but an increasing impatience led to a growing number of hopeful long balls, which gave Ragan and Conor Brennan up front little more than half chances at goal.

If Lund and co were irritated at this point they were not going to like what followed. Another Derwent corner was floated in, in the 80th minute and centre back Richard Burne, clearly not content with merely keeping Halifax at bay, rose highest in the middle of the box and powered home the winner with an unstoppable header. With Halifax clear-ly reeling from conceding so late on, and pressurising for an equaliser, Derwent found opportunities aplenty but in the end had to settle for a one goal victory which could be vital come the end of the season.

Tuesday March 9th 2010YORK VISION