by Jamil Bin-Salih
Date: Wednesday 14 March, 2018
Venue: USW Sport Park, Treforest
IT WAS an afternoon to forget for University of South Wales Men’s 2nd team as they fell to a 7-1 home defeat to Hartpury University Centre Men’s 2nd team in their penultimate league game of the season.
Hartpury travelled to the USW Sports Park in high spirits following an emphatic 3-1 home victory against University of Exeter 4th. However, the same could not be said for USW, who came into this clash on the back of a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Exeter.
The home side knew a win would see them leapfrog their Hartpury counterparts as just 2 points separated the sides.
It took just 4 minutes for the game to spring into action as USW’s Callum Pryce went down in the box but the referee waved the home-side’s appeals away instantly.
Eleven minutes later Hartpury showed their danger on the break when Tyrone Carkeet was set free by Bakare Aliu down the left hand side but his venomous shot sailed just wide.
The deadlock was broken soon after in the 21st minute, Hartpury were rewarded for their persistent attacking intent when Aliu picked the ball up on the edge of the 18 yard box, breezed past two USW defenders and cheekily dinked the ball over Joe Massaro to give the away side the lead at Treforest.
Going a goal down seemed to spark USW into life and after an instantly positive response, it took just 15 minutes for the Welsh side to find an equaliser, star-man Callum Bateman calmly slotting the ball under the Hartpury goalie to restore proceedings.
The game was poised and it seemed as though the sides were going to go into the interval level, however, on the 45-minute mark Ben Hands took advantage of some lax USW defending as he bombed down the right flank and rifled one home to Massaro’s left to ensure Hartpury went into the break with a one-goal buffer.
It was much more of the same in the second half of the game, Hartpury as an astonishing flurry of five goals in the first 25 minutes of the second half ensured that they left Treforest with 3 points and an improved 5-point advantage over USW.
Bakare Aliu and substitute Yesh Lomo proved to be the second-half stalwarts for the away side with the pair scoring all five of their goals with Aliu bagging three more goals to add to his first-half strike.
Substitute Yeah Lomo, who led the Hartpury frontline after his introduction, also scored a brace to heap more misery upon USW in tough weather conditions as USW slumped to a 7-1 defeat following Hartpury’s second-half thrashing.
After a valiant first-half display from the home side, USW will be disappointed to be on the end of such a shuddering scoreline.
With the visit of league-leaders Bath University to Treforest next Wednesday, USW will be desperate to put in a better showing and end the season on a high-note as the BUCS Western 2B campaign comes to and end for them.
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