Positives from Uni FC’s narrow opening day loss
MIDLAND FOTOBALL LEAGUE AFC WULFRUNIANS 1 LOUGHBOROUGH UNI FC 0 ON A hot afternoon in Wolverhampton the Scholars faced AFC Wulfrunians in an opening day MFL Premier Division fixture at the CKW Stadium. The Students started the game with long periods of possesion but the game produced no real chances for either side in front of goal in the first half an hour. Wulfrunians came into the game more and grew in confidence as they forced Loughborough into conseeding a free kick near their penalty area.
From the resulting free kick the ball fell to Wulfrunians Kieron Northwood who lobbed the ball over keeper George Hobbs from a narrow angle to give the Wulfs the lead on 34 minutes.
Minutes later Loughborough’s Matty Crookes was played through and his low shot was forced away by the Wulfs keeper for a corner.
In an even game both sides had chances before half time but lacked the cutting edge in front of goal.
Five minutes into the second half Dan Hanson was played in down the left but was stopped by a heavy challenge on the edge of the area by Wulfs Joseph Daly who received a yellow card from the Referee.
On 53 minutes Matty Crookes again brought a good save from Mason Springthorpe in the Wulfs goal.
The same situation happened again on 60 minutes as the Scholars enjoyed the majority of the possession with Wulfrunians holding on gamely to their lead.
As the game entered the final 20 minutes substitute Joe Boachie gave the Wulfrunians defence cause for concern but there was way through for the Students.
Substitute Matthew Olapo cut in from the wide left on 86 minutes but once again the Wulfs keeper was behind the shot.
So the Students fell to an opening day defeat despite controlling the game for long periods. Although beaten there were many positives to take from the game with good debut performances from the new players to the squad this season.