By Laurence Dockerty
USW coach Rob Bailey praised his players after a dramatic penalty shootout win against UWE in Bristol.
The visitors prevailed after rescuing a 3-1 deficit to draw 3-3 in normal time thanks to goals from Laurent Ngunjoh, Kai Saurin and Kyle Capner. They then kept their heads when the pressure came on from 12 yards.
Bailey said: “I’m glad for those boys. For a lot of them this is their last game in university, and to leave with a Varsity win is a great achievement.
“After we got the first goal, we started to play our brand of football.”
During the shootout, UWE missed two penalties, one of which was saved by USW goalkeeper Sven Marnot. Bailey said he was not surprised.
“I wasn’t nervous at all. We have both of the first team goalkeepers, who are very confident goalkeepers.
“I was confident in our goalkeepers to save at least one, and I was also confident in our players being able to find the corners.”
The only player to miss for USW was Dylan Pierce, who hit his penalty over the bar in an unsuccessful attempt at a Panenka.
Bailey added: “Dylan of course tried for the dramatics with his Panenka. All I can say is that he is very lucky that the other four scored their penalties.”
After the final, both teams became embroiled in a brawl on the pitch, with a large majority of players from both teams getting involved.
“From what I saw of it, one of the UWE players was pulled up about not shaking hands, which ended in a bit of pushing and shoving,” said Bailey.
“It’s not a good look, but in all fairness most of the people involved were splitting up the fighting.”