The University of Gloucestershire (UoG) men’s football teams have had an impressive start to the season, and at the halfway mark of the 2021/22 campaign, progress has certainly been made.
With four teams competing in British University and College Sport (BUCS), football is one of the largest clubs at UoG, and here at ParkLife Sport we managed to speak to players in each of UoG men’s football four teams to reflect on the first half of the season.
The first-team set out for survival ahead of this campaign, and attacking midfielder George Harris, who has also been used at right-wing-back this term, is pleased with their progress this season.
“We are currently fourth in the table, and only a point behind Southampton in third,” he said. “However, this season we have shown we can compete with the teams at the top of the table, and we have been unlucky to not come away with results at times.
“In saying that, we have lacked consistency over the full 90 minutes, and controlling games in the second half is a real focus of ours for the rest of the season. We still have Plymouth to play, who we beat just before Christmas, and we also have Hartpury as our last game of the season, where us boys feel we have a point to prove.”
Although it’s been an impressive start for the first-team, a 7-0 away loss to Hartpury was a real low point for the team. Despite heading into half-time at just 2-0 down, the side crumbled in the second half, which is something Harris keen to rectify over the remainder of the season.
“I think we realistically aim to finish in the top three,” he revealed. “Hartpury and Bristol UWE are too far in front, and finishing third is a position we feel we deserve.”
Similarly to the first-team, the second-team have also impressed this campaign, and captain Jack Charman has revealed his thoughts on how his side have performed up until now.
“We started the season fairly well,” the striker revealed. “Coming into a league we’d just been promoted into last season, we expected a challenge, but we managed to find ourselves top of the league after three games, which was really good, and the boys were absolutely flying.
“Then a poor loss away to Cardiff put us on the backfoot for a bit, and then a couple more games didn’t go our way due to player selection and injuries we had, but the boys were still fighting and trying to get the job done.”
The 2’s currently sit fourth in the Men’s West 3B division, three points behind the University of South Wales in third place and six points clear of the University of Cardiff’s fourth team, who sit fifth.
“Our aim now isn’t to win the league anymore,” Charman admitted. “Obviously it would be amazing if we could, but after coming into the league this season, the first aim was survival, and I think we’re now going to push for mid-table, and see how many more wins we can get under our belt, against some very good Cardiff opposition.”
While the second-team were aiming for survival and were surprisingly mounting a title charge until recently, it’s unfortunately been the opposite story for the third-team.
Club captain and third-team centre-back Sebastian Wade confessed to ParkLife Sport that the team “had ambitions to win the league, but that’s gone now.”
Tom Deaks, the third-team manager, has experience at Forest Green Rovers’ academy, but hasn’t been able to prevent a recent slide down the table.
“At the start of the season it was very positive, we had some great trialists come in, and they managed to work their way into the third-team, and fit right in with everyone,” Wade began.
“We won our first game and our second as well [in the cup], both convincing wins, and during both we looked completely solid throughout the team. That was when our first lot of injuries hit [the club], about two, three weeks into the season.
“So, we had to send a few players up [to the 2’s] which was obviously good because it showed they are good enough to play in the 2’s, but then it also left massive gaps in the 3’s, and we did lose some big players throughout the team.
“It did affect us and we ended up going on a bit of a downward spiral as such. We lost two league games in a row, and then there was a cup match against Bath which we really needed to win.
“Luckily we had a few players back from injury then, so we managed to win that, and now we’re into the semi-finals of the cup, which is in a few weeks.
“We’re obviously not where we want to be in the league, because at the start of the season we had ambitions to win the league, but that’s gone now. So, we’re going to shift our focus now onto the cup, and try and get some silverware of sorts.
“I believe we can go and do that, and it’s our main ambition for the rest of the season. We can go and win this cup.
“We’re against Plymouth, who are in the same league standing as us, just the other side [of the competition], and then the other two teams left in the cup, one is in our league, and one is in the league below, so there’s no reason we can’t win.
“We’re at the same level as everyone else [left in the cup], and on our day we can beat anyone, but we just need to make sure that we’re up for it on the day.
“We’ve struggled with away games this year. I think that’s just the change of having lots of first-years in the 3rd team, they’re not experienced in the whole coach journey, early morning start, but that’s just something that will come the more they do it.
“So, I’m not too worried about that at the moment. But, I definitely believe we can go and win this cup, and add some silverware to our cabinet, and make it an enjoyable season for the boys.”
While the 3’s have turned their focus to the cup thanks to a poor run in the league, the same certainly can’t be said for the fourth-team. They are flying high in second-place, and captain Jordan Walker admits he is delighted with how the team has performed this year.
“The 4’s season is going quite well so far,” Walker laughs. “We are sitting second in the table, with a game in hand on first.
“We are unbeaten so far – two wins and one draw, and if we win our game in hand then we would go top. What’s gone well so far is simply that we’re unbeaten, which is always a good thing.
“We lost in the cup, but it was against a team higher than us, so we’ve chalked that one off. But, we’re scoring goals, and we’re keeping them out, so it seems to be going well.
“Unfortunately towards the latter end of our games we’ve struggled to keep hold of the ball, which has cost us, like in the last game. It was a 3-3 draw. We couldn’t keep hold of the ball, and our defending really wasn’t up to scratch.
“But, we’d like to win the league this year, and I think we’ve got more than a good enough team to achieve that.”
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