First’s Fall Short on Home Debut

 (H) Northumbria University (26/10/2022)

KO 15:00

Report by Fred Stewart

This week’s fixture comes a week removed from the First XI taking a well-earned point from a strong University of Leeds side. After seven days of reflection and recovery, a largely unchanged team came into today’s game looking to build on last week and take home all three points. They take on an unfamiliar opponent in Northumbria University, with the sides not crossing paths for several seasons.

The second game of the season marks Liverpool’s opener in front of their home support, with the Wyncote faithful hoping to see the Blues succeed. This optimism comes off the back of a fantastic 2021/22 season at Wyncote, with the home fans only seeing their team falter once. Throughout the week, manager Jack Edwards has made the upkeep of this peerless home record a priority – looking for his team to produce a stylish brand of football: “we’re making sure when opponents turn up here, they’re in for a fast-paced game, it’s going to be an intense game and we’re going to be aggressive to try and win.” This urgency was made clear to his players.

In the pre-match meeting, Liverpool’s lack of minutes against Northumbria made the scouting report limited, but their instructions were still detailed. Edwards promoted a counter-attacking approach, with ‘short, sharp movements’ being the order of the day. He also called for a more liberal approach around the eighteen-yard box, telling his attackers to pull the trigger on a more frequent basis. Defensively, he required a dynamic, team orientated approach to reduce the number of one-versus-one scenarios: a method that requires an aggressive, tenacious mentality.

Northumbria were the ones to get the game underway and made the better start. Their chances in the early stages of the game were plentiful, forcing the back four into action. Centre-back Timmins (5) and goalkeeper Pyper (1) punctuated this pressure. The former flew in to foil Northumbria’s striker at a gaping goal mouth; the latter pulled off a stunning save with his right foot eight minutes later. At the other end of the pitch, Liverpool were beginning to come close. Pashias (6) let rip from range, with his swerving strike rattling the crossbar.

After these early flurries, the story of the game became clear. Both teams began to commit an increasing number of fouls, resulting in Liverpool struggling to put their fluid game plan into practice. In addition, Northumbria showed their threat from set-pieces, coming close several times before their striker nipped in behind the defence: being brought down just outside the six-yard box and winning his side a penalty, before squeezing the ball inside the post. Thirteen minutes later, Northumbria whipped in another dangerous free-kick, with the target-man flicking the ball on to his waiting team-mate, whose header found the back of the net, 2-0.

Down but not out, Liverpool showed their resolve. Seconds before the half concluded, Cogswell (8) was fouled in a dangerous position twenty-five yards out, with centre forward Lewis (9) hammering home the subsequent free kick, thrusting Liverpool back into the game (below).

As the second half commenced, the breaking up of play was more apparent. A parade of Northumbria set pieces continued to cause problems, one opportunity thwarted by a soaring goal-line clearance from Boaventura (10). On the fiftieth minute, confusion from a corner lead to the ball falling to an obliging Northumbria player, who converted from only yards out. They continued to show no let-up in the proceeding minutes, forcing Pyper into a few spectacular saves.

Once again, this set back did not dishearten the Blues. On the hour mark, Cogswell played a piercing ball through to Jarvis (7), who did well to hold onto the ball and slot past Northumbria’s number one, notching his second goal of the season. Against the run of play, Northumbria showed some nice football under pressure, with one of their wide players finding space on the left hand-side. He squared it to his striker, who stole in at the back post to make it 4-2.

In the late stages of the game, the unforgiving Merseyside conditions made its presence felt. The cross-field wind picked up massively, making it hard for either side to gain any meaningful possession and pinning the ball to Liverpool’s right-hand touchline. Credit should go to Lewis in this testing stage of the game, who showed an impressive turn of pace to beat his man and hit the by-line. He squared it to the awaiting Edwards (14), who was unlucky to see a Northumbria defender get there first, smashing the ball into the back of his own net to set up a grandstand finish. Sadly, the referee didn’t see the same way, ending the game after no added-on time.

   It cannot be denied that this is a disappointment for the First XI after last weeks positive result. This was not lost on Edwards, “we just seemed passive and too reactive […] we were chasing shadows […] and we can’t be defending that many set pieces in a game, because you can’t get any rhythm.” This desire to improve was built upon by centre-back Timmins, “we need to play percentage football instead of overplaying and a lack of communication killed us at times”, a reflection which shows the importance of picking up points in this early stage of the season.

 

Goals:

Liverpool: Lewis 44’, Jarvis 60’, OG 89’

Northumbria: Pen 28’, 41’, 50’, 63’

Yellow Cards:  Watts (15)

Substitutes: Gill (13), Edwards (14), Watts (15)