So close to a perfect record
AS the BUCS season winds down there was a huge fixture for the only Edge Hill University team to reach a cup final.
The all-conquering badminton men’s firsts squad had won all 14 of their fixtures - but they fell just short in their bid to complete the BUCS season with a perfect record as they went down to Hull firsts in the final of the Northern Conference Cup in Durham.
Hull, themselves unbeaten champions of Northern Tier 2 - a division above the Greens - proved a level above as they ran out 6-2 winners.
Kieran Waters (singles) and Matthew Latham and Blu Holgate (doubles) claimed Edge Hill’s points, but it was not enough to secure the silverware. However, the squad can reflect on a memorable campaign, the best in the history of the University’s badminton teams.
Another side who can reflect positively on an unbeaten league campaign is the men’s firsts tennis squad, the champions completing their Northern Tier 3 campaign with a 5-1 victory at UCLAN firsts.
The men’s firsts hockey team moved second in Northern Tier 2 following a 5-0 victory in their penultimate fixture, at UCLAN firsts. James Aberley, Nick Fletcher,
Connor Lloyd (2) and Matthew Stacey struck in an impressive second-half display.
There was no happy ending for the women’s squads, however. The firsts went down 8-1 at Chester firsts in Northern Tier 2, Meg Burns scoring in the first half, while the women’s seconds failed to make it a fifth successive win as they went down 3-0 to Chester seconds in Northern Tier 5.
In football, the women’s firsts rounded off their league-winning campaign unbeaten although they were made to work in a 4-4 draw with UCLAN firsts.
There were two home defeats in three days for the women’s firsts basketball team, who remain winless in Northern Tier 2 with one fixture left, going down 66-33 to UCLAN firsts before losing 80-52 to Bradford firsts.
And the fourths netball team’s Northern Tier 8 status remains in doubt after they went down 58-25 to Liverpool John Moores fourths.