History Made as Durham Reach National Championship Final

Mar 10, 20236 min read

Updated: Mar 12, 2023

Report written by Freddie Merrett.

Durham University AFC Men's First XI have reached the BUCS National Championships Final

On Wednesday 8th March 2023, Durham welcomed Loughborough to Maiden Castle for a place in the National Championship final. A 7pm kick off under lights with Durham sporting a full white strip, facing off against a Loughborough team in their 'African Violet', felt altogether familiar given the events of just a few weeks ago (see https://www.durhamuniversityafc.co.uk/post/triumphant-durham-euphoric-after-securing-safety for a reminder on the details). However, as anyone well-versed in football, or sport, will tell you, each game must be approached anew. Indeed 'Start Again' has been a central mantra of legendary All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and one that the boys necessarily had to remind themselves of heading into this clash.

For anyone not so well-acquainted with the intricacies of BUCS Premiership football, let me briefly run you through it now. The top flight of university football is split into a Northern and a Southern Premier Division which both have 6 teams. Each team plays the others in their side of the system home and away, producing 2 parallel league tables after every side has played 10 games. This year, Stirling were crowned Northern Premier champions, whilst Bath were crowned Southern Premier champions.

These league standings then seed the National Championship, with the top two teams earning a bye into the quarter finals. The Round of 16 is seeded as follows: 3rd in the North hosts 6th in the South; 4th of Northern hosts 5th of Southern, and vice versa. Still with me? Good.

With Durham finishing 4th after their thrilling final day encounter, they faced Swansea in the round of 16, whom they dispatched 5-0. This teed up a quarter final clash away at Southern Champions, Bath. Another strong performance saw them come away 1-0 victors, meaning the M1s were into a semi-final against a Loughborough side that had beaten Exeter and Newcastle on their road to the final four.

Having followed a tense encounter between Stirling and the University of Nottingham on Twitter, we were aware that a win would mean facing Stirling for the Championship, after they ran out 3-2 victors.

And so let me bring the attention back to the game.

Durham were well aware that 'The Scholars' would be back with a vengeance, following the last encounter which saw Durham relegate them on the final day, securing safety for the M1s in the process. The energy from both sides was tangible heading into kick-off and after the final words from both managers, the players headed out onto the field for a monumental game of football on a crisp North Eastern evening.

The opening period was probably as expected, with Loughborough probing with the ball in the middle third of the pitch and Durham playing through the thirds quickly. Indeed, it was Durham who had the better of the chances early on, but only finding the side netting. The ever reliable captain, Jack Gibbons, also proved menacing from dead balls, with some dangerous crosses into the box, but to no avail. Durham grew into the game and by the time the half reached its midpoint, had consolidated possession through the back 3 and midfield. In the 27th minute, this pressure told. After Gibbons had recovered a loose ball in the middle, a neat interchange with England opened up the space through the middle of the field, enabling Gibbons to find Hizzett, who in turn slid in Gwillim. After the dangerous first year had the ball poked from his feet, the ball flew out to England who was able to run onto the ball and whip in a delightful first-time cross to the back post, which was met by the head of the ever-prolific Hizzett to open the scoring.

With 5 minutes to go in the half, Gwillim's pace almost saw Durham double their lead as he beat the keeper to a through ball, firing just wide of the right upright. Durham were able to see out the half with relative ease other than one save from Arnold, which he made with aplomb. Half time and Durham deservedly ahead on the balance of chances, if not possession.

HALF TIME: Durham 1 - 0 Loughborough

With the scoreline a reversal of the previous encounter between the teams, Durham were wary that they were still in for a massive 45 minutes of football. Loughborough were quick out of the blocks after a half time substitution had also brought about a changed formation, but this was matched by the M1s who defended resolutely in the opening blows of the second half. After an early cross into the box from Loughborough's right winger, it was Durham who had the better chances with three shots on 'The Scholars' goal in quick succession. Loughborough were noticeably more direct in the second half , resulting in several spells around the edge of the Durham area, though without many genuine attempts on the Durham goal. This rhythm was maintained for the majority of the second half as Loughborough continued to enjoy longer periods on the ball, interspersed with some direct Durham attacks. One such forward move saw Gwillim spun into the box, getting goal-side of the defender to drive into a 2 on 1 and surely a finish. Before he could get the opportunity, he appeared to be dragged down by an arm over his shoulder from a desperate last-ditch attempt by the Loughborough defender, though shouts for a penalty were waved away.

Then came 10 of the most thrilling minutes of football most had ever been involved in (though I'm not sure I would have described it as such at the time)!

In the 80th minute a scramble at the edge of the Durham box, saw the ball find its way to the left side. A ball was swung over the back post to the on-rushing right winger who squeezed the ball back across goal to be poked home. 1-1. Just three minutes later and a determined bit of play saw Gwillim slide the ball in behind for the substitute, Ventham. His driving run into the box saw him brought down just as he was shaping to shoot. Penalty. Gibbons took the ball and slotted home... shirt off and wheeled away into the corner. 83rd minute, 2-1 Durham.

Game over, surely? Not so fast.

Three minutes later again... Loughborough stood over a corner. This went short and a ball was whipped into the far post and met by a Loughborough head just 3 yards out, but Arnold pulled off a phenomenal save resulting in a scramble. The ball is recycled to the right hand side and another ball is crossed in, but this time the Loughborough man flicked the ball home. 86 gone 2-2. Just as extra-time was looking like an increasing probability with 2 minutes of 4 gone in stoppage time, a misplaced header from a Loughborough midfielder found the feet of Ventham who rolled the ball to Hizzett in his now deeper role. He in turn found White on the right who drove inside and picked out England on the left. Now at this point it is quite apt that I am re-watching the goal on 0.5x speed because without wanting to sound too cliche, this next bit of play was one of those moments that I can only describe as slow motion... England took a touch out of his feet, looked up and saw his target, Gwillim, who was waiting at the back post. England proceeded to deliver an inch-perfect cross which was met by Gwillim and headed into the net, making the net ripple and once again sending Maiden Castle into pandemonium as he wheeled away into the corner!

Shortly after the whistle sounded for full-time.

FULL TIME: DURHAM 3 - 2 LOUGHBOROUGH

The result means Durham M1s have been unbeaten at home for the entire 2022/23 season.

The magnitude of this historic result is not lost on the boys. Just 12 years ago the first team were playing in Tier 3 of the BUCS pyramid. After 3 successive promotions, Durham earned promotion to Premiership status in 2012/13, which they have maintained ever since. The 2015/16 team have been held in high regard by the boys all season as we looked to emulate their run to the Championship semi-final 7 years ago, if not their league win (though hopefully this is to come). In this regard, our journey to the final is testament to the dedication of those involved within the programme for many years to get it to where it is today. We hope our pride about Wednesday's result is shared by all alumni members, and inspires future members. This is the first Durham M1s team to have reached the National Championship final since: the inauguration of BUCS (following BUSA); the turn of the millennium, and all of the squad were born (and probably a lot longer). The last time we know for definite that DUAFC were in a national final was 1956, which was also the last time a Durham M1s football team won the National Championship.

We look to become the first team to have won the Championship in 67 years on the 22nd March, as we head down to Nottingham for Big BUCS Wednesday.

The game will be played at Basford Football Club at 16:30 against Stirling University.

The summit is now just 1 game away.