Summary of the action from the NTU Cup and Plate Finals

Wednesday 1st May saw the sun make a surprise and long awaited appearance to set the scene for the first ever NTU Cup and Plate finals which took place on NTU's own Pitch 2 on Clifton Campus. The Plate Final featured the second BSOC Derby of the year, whilst History Society Football Club and ACS, the two teams with the highest goals/games average, competed for the NTU Cup.

Top-seeds BSOC All Stars reached the Plate Final in straightforward fashion, getting a Bye in the Quarter Finals after Dynamo Chicken Kiev withdrew and then thrashing Bayer Neverloosen 5-0 in the Semi Final. By contrast BSOC Bulldogz followed a far for difficult path. In their Quarter Final they were taken to extra time by Average Joe's, before finally winning 4-2, whilst their Semi Final against old rivals Brack City became the first LIGA game to ever go to penalties, as normal and extra time finished 1-1, with the Bulldogz triumphing 4-2 in the shoot-out.

Earlier in the season the first meeting between the teams had seen the All Stars win their LIGA A fixture 3-1 at Victoria Embankment, but it was the Bulldogz who finished higher in the table. The close encounter this suggested was born out in the first half with few real chances emerging for either team for the majority of the period. However, shortly before half time the All Stars were gifted a chance to take the lead after a needless push in the box saw them awarded a penalty. However, this opportunity was spurned as the shot rebounded off the post. This miss was punished by the Bulldgoz five minutes later as Ryan Lane broke forward down the left wing and fired a long range shot over Dan McClelland in the All Stars goal. BSOC Bulldogz doubled their lead in the first fifteen minutes of the second period, with Ryan Lane doubling his tally for the game, but were unable to extend the lead further due to committed defending by the All Stars and also a dreadful penalty miss by Luke Foster. BSOC All Stars tried to mount a late fightback, but the Bulldogz were able to hold out to become the first winners of the NTU Plate.

ACS and History Society were also meeting for the second time this season, following their Friendly match at the end of Term 2 which saw History finish 3-1 winners in a game where both teams were under-strength. The Final was well supported with a large crowd, reckoned to be around 100 strong, turning out to see the match. The first half, though lacking goals, was not short on action. ACS had the larger amount of possession and put together some flowing football without really testing Peter Sacre in the History Society goal. History manufactured the better chances, but again failed to test ACS goalkeeper Femi Ajamolayi. The second half started with a bang though. ACS won a free kick on the left hand corner of the History Society 18 yard box. Sheriff Babatundi took it and whipped a ball in through the six yard box towards the back post. None of the three onrushing ACS players managed to get a touch, but the ball was struck true enough to find its own way into the net. ACS kicked on after this with Babatundi doubling his and ACS's tally for the day, finishing off a pacy counter-attack move. History Society wobbled, but steadied the ship and got a goal back through regular goalscorer Rory Jennings.

History were unfortunate not to equalize five minutes later after a long range strike by captain Liam Cawley was tipped onto the crossbar by Ajamolayi, who was then able to twist and ball on the ball before it could bounce down over the line. However, History did level the scores shortly afterwards as a twenty five yard shot by Matt Sharp shifted viciously in mid air, wrong footing Ajamolayi in the ACS goal.

With the scores level at 2-2 and either team looking like they could win it, the game took an unfortunate turn. Liam Cawley tried to nip in front of ACS forward Ephraim Oparah who managed to hold the History Society Captain off and spin away with the ball, leaving Cawley to fall to the floor.However, in doing so he landed heavily on his right arm and was unable to get back to his feet. The referees immediately stopped the match, an ambulance was called but, after thirty minutes of waiting, the match was abandoned out of concern for the well being of the players and officials. This turned out to be a good call, as it wasn't until two hours after sustaining his injury that Cawley was finally removed from the pitch by the paramedics. Thankfully, despite sustaining a double fracture and numerous ligament injuries, he's expected to make a full recovery.

So 2012/13 became not only the year of the first Cup Final, but the first two Cup Finals! The rearranged game took place one week later on Wednesday 8th May, again on NTU's Clifton Campus and followed the same plot as the original game.

History Society created numerous early chances, but it was ACS who took the lead just prior to half time through Oparah, and extended it further early in the second half through Babatundi, their two goal hero from the first Final, and a second Oparah goal. Despite being a goal further down than in the previous game, History again showed great resolve to rally. Mark Tinsley, who had missed two early chances for History Society, pulled one back with half an hour remaining before stand-in Captain Charlie Byron-Grange scored from the edge of the area with twenty minutes to go.

ACS were on the back foot now and conceded again five minutes later, with Tinsley making full amends for his first half misses with a towering header from a corner that leveled the tie. After this the game turned into a stalemate with ACS trying to steady their performance and History conscious that over committing would leave them open to a counter-attack. The game threw up one more chance though. History Society won a free-kick on the edge of the ACS area. Rather than going straight for goal the ball was rolled to substitute Daniel Hall who curled the ball into the top corner.

History saw out the last five minutes to win 4-3 and claim an 11-a-side Double (as they had won LIGA C) to add to their 6-a-side trophy as Defenders Assemble.

So, a week later than intended the NTU LIGA season ended. It had been a historic year with twice as many teams competing across five competitions, which were won by four separate sides. One hundred and one fixtures were played, featuring 438 players and 590 goals! The league saw it's first ever halls team compete, the first ever All-Star game against the BUCS Varsity Squad and the first NTU Football Presentation Evening.

Next year the league will be looking to expand again to take up to four leagues which will hopefully allow for more teams, more games and more opportunity for students at NTU to play football.

See you in 2013/14. Viva La Liga!