Union of Jewish Students

THE FIRST BRUM v NOTTINGHAM DERBY TAKES PLACE

Liverpool v Everton, Rangers v Celtic and Spurs v Arsenal. These had nothing on the encounter between Birmingham and Nottingham JSocs recently in what is hoped to be a regular fixture on their sporting calendars. The first of many Nottingham v Birmingham derbys was played on a cold January afternoon with bragging rights and the UJS golden boot trophy (which will be given an official name in due course) on the line.

Below is a match report from Ben Levitt.

Birmingham came out victorious on penalties after a hard fought 3-3 draw against their Nottingham counterparts, in the first ever Intra-JSoc match. The Nottingham team traveled to Birmingham full of hope that they could win the match, and after 20 minutes they took the lead when star striker Jamie Wolfson slotted neatly past the onrushing Ben Law. However, Birmingham hit back before halftime. They leveled in controversial circumstances when they headed home from a corner after the referee missed an obvious foul on the goalkeeper, and they were ahead 5 minutes later after a neat finish after some panicked Nottingham defending.

After the break Nottingham were confident that they could turn things around, but their hopes were dashed when Birmingham were awarded a penalty shortly after the restart. Their chosen penalty taker stepped up confidently but his tame shot was saved by Nottingham keeper, Ben Sheldon. However, it was not long before Birmingham had their third when the unfortunate Richard Myers sliced a clearance over his keeper and into the net.

The luck looked to be on Birmingham's side, but Nottingham hit back with a penalty of their own, given by an eagle-eyed linesman, after a handball in the area missed by the referee. Jonny Kay tucked away the spot kick. Nottingham piled on the pressure as the light faded and were controversially awarded a second penalty in the last minute of the game, which Kay converted again, to level at 3-3. A terrific match was decided on penalties, and Birmingham celebrated a historic win. Special mention has to go to Nottingham captain Zac Newman, who played the whole match after a clash of heads with his own teammate in the first 10 minutes. Scans later revealed the skipper has a fractured jawbone and will be unable to play again for 6 weeks, after an operation.

Nottingham Sports Secretary Ben Sheldon commented 'I am proud of my team's effort, and we look forward to hosting Birmingham back in Nottingham later this term. After weeks of organisation, we are delighted that this event was able to go ahead, and hope that this match is the first of many. We all feel sorry for Zac as he has been influential for us and he will now miss most of the university season. We all wish him well.'