Post Match: A late winner sees UCFB triumph over Salford and secure the league title

A late free kick winner from UCFB’s Lara Watts saw UCFB beat local rivals Salford to win the BUCS Northern League Tier 3A in a 2-1 win that was a real war of attrition for both teams.

The occasion was massive for both teams, as whoever won would be crowned league champions. UCFB were unbeaten at home, so they came into the game with a lot of confidence. However, Salford were unbeaten away. A real “unstoppable force vs immovable object” situation at Curzon Ashton.

UCFB Head Coach Esme Critchley spoke to me about the plan heading into such a momentous game for me side, “We had looked into how Salford play and where their strengths lie. Going forward with this information we got the message across to the girls as to what areas of the pitch we may need to have extra focus but also where they leave gaps for us to break into.”

“The girls did incredibly handling this and listening to our commands. As much as we had to get the message across that Salford were going to be hard to beat, we equally got the point across that we were just as strong and had our own strengths that puts Salford under pressure.”

She was not wrong in her assessment of Salford, as they had large periods of dominance in the game. Despite UCFB taking an early lead thanks to a wicked deflection from a corner scramble, Salford were able to claw themselves back into the game via a UCFB own goal, as their number 5 headed the ball into her own net when attempting to clear a free kick cross. As halftime came, Salford were very much the team on top.

“Half time was a very important time for us.” Critchley said. “We had all noticed the girls had dropped off the last 25 of the first half so we had to treat it like a restart and a reboot for the girls and their energy.”

“We changed it around a little giving ourselves fresh legs in the midfield, but also getting the message across, we were on top for the first 20 minutes, and that proves we have the ability to beat them.”

This halftime was indeed just what the doctor ordered. UCFB came into the second half with a renewed hunger and fight, taking the fight back to Salford and disrupting their first half dominance. Chances fell to UCFB, including to number 7, who found herself one on one with the Salford keeper, but fired just wide.

And then, up stepped Lara Watts. A free kick on the edge of the box in the dying moments of the game fell to UCFB, and Watts managed to curl the ball past the Salford wall an into the bottom corner. A fantastic end to a fantastic game.

When asked about how good it feels to win a game in such dramatic fashion, Critchley said “Us coaches were talking about this after the game! As much as it would’ve been great to win 2/3-0, its very unrealistic for a game with such expectation and two very successful teams. So, yes it would’ve definitely been a more relaxed experience to be able to win 2 or 3-0, but you can not match the energy on and off the pitch when a last minute winner is scored. A moment we will never forget.”

Lara said her last minute winner was, “Amazing! I never usually score, so to score such a big goal to win us the league is such an amazing thing. We definitely deserved it as a team, not just me.”