Match Report by Freddie Merrett.
On Wednesday 15th February, Durham welcomed Swansea University M1s to Maiden Castle for the round of 16 of the National Championships. It would see the reverse of the fixture played at Swansea last year at the same stage, where Durham were unlucky to come away with a 1-0 loss in a game that was reflective of the abysmal conditions at the time. This year's Durham M1s were unbeaten at home in the BUCS Premier North, taking 11 from 15 available points at MC and confident they could inflict revenge on a Swansea side who had taken 6 points from their BUCS Premier South campaign.
The first five minutes of the game started in a somewhat cagey fashion although Durham asserted early territorial control, which quickly led to them enjoying increasingly long spells of possession in and around the Swansea box. In spite of this, the Durham side lacked accuracy in their final passes and finishing, keeping Swansea in the game. However, after a quarter of an hour's play, the unrelenting pressure told as another Durham corner was awarded. Camarda swung the ball into the centre of the box, which found Merrett's run from the back post, who met the ball on the volley and sent it into the bottom right. In the 33rd minute, Durham doubled their lead as the Swansea centre back gifted the ball to Gwillim on the edge of the box. He drove past his man, squaring the ball to - yes you've guessed it - Tom Hizzett who netted his 10th goal in 10 in BUCS. Durham continued to dominate and went in 2-0 ahead at the break.
Following their respective team talks, the players came back out for the second half. Following a short spell of fluidity for the visitors, Durham reasserted their control on the game. Hizzett and Gwillim continued to pose a serious threat to the Swansea goal, with one such run seeing Gwillim cynically brought down on the edge of the box, earning their captain a yellow. The resulting freekick was swept in by Gibbons, finding Gwillim who hit the upright - the rebound was spectacularly pushed over the bar. With 15 minutes played in the second half, an altercation between Merrett and the Swansea no. 9 saw the former take an elbow to the chest in the lead up to a throw-in. The referee gave the Swansea forward his marching orders, reducing the visitors to 10 for the remainder of the game. It took just 5 minutes for the already dominant Durham to make this advantage pay as a long throw from Abney found its way through to the Durham captain, Gibbons, whose fast feet enabled him to create the space for a fine finish into the right hand side of the goal from close-range. With 74 minutes on the clock, another long throw on the left hand side from Abney was met by Keogh whose flicked header to the back post found the ever-dangerous Gwillim, who headed home Durham's fourth with ease. The result was rounded off with a minute to play, as Gibbons swept in a corner from the right, which was met by a head, deflecting the ball to the back post, where Abney was waiting to slot home on the half-volley into the far corner. Shortly after the final whistle blew, signalling the end to a commanding win for the home side, who had scored five without conceding a shot on target.
FULL TIME: DURHAM 5 - 0 SWANSEA
The result sees Durham move into the Quarter Finals of the National Championships, where they journey to Southern table-toppers Bath in a keenly anticipated encounter.
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