Sport

CLASH OF THE TITANS

By Alex King ⋅ November 26, 2007 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

UoL and JMU’s football teams prepare to do battle

The city of Liverpool is no stranger to local football battles - having two teams in the Barclays Premiership makes sure of that. But the gods of fate have this season ensured that the first teams of the city’s two premier universities are both playing in the Northern Conference Men’s 2A division.

28th November sees the University of Liverpool team make the short trip to Liverpool John Moores University’s IM Marsh sports complex in what promises to be a league contest as hotly contested as the Merseyside derby.

JMU won the bragging rights earlier this season at the Varsity Cup contest, with an impressive 4-1 victory. The last time the two teams met, in the corresponding league fixture at Wyncote, UoL came away 1-0 victors in a tight and fiercely fought contest typical of any sporting occasion featuring these two universities.

Sitting on top of the league, six points ahead of JMU, UoL will surely start as favourites against a team which has only won once in the league this season. UoL’s Nicholson Davids certainly believes so, but expects JMU to provide a stern task: “With players like Alex Booker (forward) and Tom Norris (midfield) on top form, we should come out on top - I’m predicting a 2-1 win”.

If UoL do come out on top, JMU will still have plenty to shout about - their Women’s first team is in unstoppable form. Building on last year’s promotion and cup success, the team are currently top of their BUSA division, having played six and won six and scored over thirty goals already this season, not to mention hammering UoL’s Women’s 1sts 5-0. Left-winger Scarlett Smith says the team can continue to build on their already solid foundations and achieve promotion for the second year running: “We believe we will be playing in the Premier division next season”.