My first #BearsDay of the 2014/15 season was spent largely in a car travelling up and down to Portsmouth for this week’s Match of the Day: Portsmouth 3 – RHULFC 2.
With only 11 players available for this game, and only two cars to transport those 11 (resulting in Alva Tawia and Pablo Aritio having to take the train down), the day started off hectic to say the least. After an hour and a half journey on the motorway, we only had 9 players when the referee blew the first whistle. It took our two train volunteers another half an hour to make it to the pitch, which required a heroic effort from the 9 on the pitch against 11 Pompeys, but boy did we hold out.
RHULFC actually went up 2-0 before the opposition realised that just the numerical advantage was not going to give them the win. A heated game ensued, the scores levelled by the time we could finally field 11: 2-2. On the brink of half time Portsmouth scored 3-2, but we knew we deserved more. When they scored a fourth only moments after kick-off for the second half, RHUL 2 turned up the pace and two fantastic goals off the magical right boot of Antoine ‘El Flaco’ Levy made it 4-4. Several yellow cards later, both sides looked to keep each other level, until the final minute. A stroke of luck and a good finish gave Portsmouth the win, leaving us utterly devastated.
Final score: 5-4. Goalscorers: Matt Brown, Adriaan Berfelo, Antoine Levy 2x.
As it was early on in the term not all of our six Men’s Football teams had fixtures just yet, however the 1st XI showed why Nobles is our fortress with their 5-1 victory over Imperial 2 in South Eastern 4C. Goal scorers in that fixture: Jacopo Volpi, Christian Needham 2x, Lucas, Richard Downey. RHULFC 3 drew 1-1 away against Kingston 4 in South Eastern 6A, goal scored by Sharif Yacoob.
Finally, I would like to dedicate a special mention to freshmen James Cooke and Dan Stevens from the RHULFC 3s for winning the X-Factor Challenge at the Monkeys Forehead during the #BearsDay football social.