Cardiff University fought off a battling Manchester side to claim the first Hockey victory of the day in the BUCS PwC women's Trophy final at Abbeydale by three goals to two.

Manchester failed to capitalise on a bright start, despite enjoying much of the possession in the opening minutes. They squandered several chances to take the lead but certainly looked to be the better team in the early stages.

Despite being on the back foot at the start of the game, Cardiff’s defensive style proved to be effective as they broke down every Manchester attack successfully and were able to threaten on the counter attack.

Cardiff then adopted an attacking approach which paid off just eight minutes before half time when they scored the first goal of the day to make it 1-0.

Manchester came out after half time with their heads held high and took the early initiative in the second half, testing the Cardiff defence on several occasions before equalising after five minutes of the second period.
Cardiff then showed that they had come here to win. Just three minutes after conceding, they turned defence into attack to take the lead again through Sarah Parrot.

Their lead was extended further when Gemma Winterbottom’s clever play proved too much for Manchester’s defence to handle.

The game looked to be over with 15 minutes to go, but Manchester were not going to accept defeat that easily and piled the pressure on Cardiff’s defence with several fast attacks in quick succession. It wasn’t long before they got one back to set up a tense finale.

It was a nervous final few minutes for Cardiff, who no doubt feared the worst when Manchester had the chance to level with less than five minutes remaining but they fired their shot wide of the goal.

Manchester’s late spell of pressure was not enough to stop Cardiff from winning the game, but in the end it proved to be a very close affair.

Final Score: Cardiff University 3 - 2 University of Manchester

Written by Euan Parsons, BUCS Championships Student Media Team
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