26 Tuesday June 8th 2010YORK VISION SPORT

YORK VISION PROVIDES THE DEFINITIVE RUN DOWNOF THE COMPETITION'S CONTENDERS

IT'S BEEN four weeks since College Cup 2010 began, and in a tournament of thrills, goal-keeping spills and some as-tonishing goals, fans have not been left disappointed.

The group stage of the tourna-ment draws to a close this week, and although the eight quarter final berths all look likely to be taken by the Firsts teams, this year’s Cup hasn’t been short on surprises.

SURPRISE FRONTRUNNERSVanbrugh’s stunning 3-0 win

over Halifax in Week 5 shocked many observers, yours truly in-cluded. It shouldn't have. Last year Vanbrugh were criticised in some corners for a less than attractive style of play, despite reaching the final. This year has been different.

The competition’s joint top scor-ers with sixteen goals scored and only one conceded in three match-es, Vanbrugh have been the tour-nament’s outstanding team: stoic in defence, confident on the ball, and with a deadly strike force of Liam Regan and Ali Prince, they have been a joy to watch. On top of this Vanbrugh are a tight-knit

team of players, as shown in their spirit and commitment when defeating Hali-fax.

Vanbrugh are on course to meet a Wentworth team in the quarter finals that has nothing to

lose. This is something that is always a dangerous proposition for any team. However despite hammering James Thirds 4-0 last week, Wentworth were beaten without much difficulty by their rivals in Group A, Goodricke Firsts. With the exception of their striker Dom Green, Wentworth do not provide a great amount of attacking threat, with physicality rather than skill the best chance they have of success against Vanbrugh. Yet hope springs eter-nal, and Wentworth will be lifted by the knowledge that they have nothing to lose against the tour-nament's in-form team. Vanbrugh will take some beating though, and with each match they look more and more like College Cup champions.

STEADY HOLDERSAlcuin might have something

to say about that. Thrown into a "group of death" containing one of the pre-tournament favourites, Derwent, and a strong Vanbrugh Seconds team, last year’s winners have done enough to suggest this could be their year again. With players like Christy Cormac and

Joe Cooper this team has pace in abundance, and a formidable de-fence consisting of Jake Delaney, captain Miles McDermott and full-back Jack Crane has man-aged to shield goalkeeper Michael Wynd well, whilst offering an added attacking threat. Their dispatching of Derwent early on in the Cup was impressive, and although the feeling remains that Alcuin haven’t quite hit first gear yet, they remain a strong bet to reach the final.

James are Alcuin's likely oppo-nents in the quarters, and after their second half collapse against a Bruce Starkey-inspired Lang-with side the black and whites are the clear underdogs for this game. James have do have an ace in the pack however, despite the fact that they possess a defence that is susceptible to pace, as Starkey pointed out so ruthlessly a couple of weeks ago. If Mark Johnson can recapture the scintillating form that brought him four goals in two games, before so abruptly deserting him against Langwith, they stand a chance.

STRUGGLING FAVOURITESWhilst Vanbrugh and Alcuin

have shone, Halifax have been disappointing. Tipped as the most likely champions of the three pre-tournament favour-ites of themselves, Alcuin and Derwent, Vanbrugh’s victims haven’t lived up to expectations. Although winning their first two matches by rugby scores, those

COLLEGE CUP REVIEW 2010

TEAM P W D L GD Pt Langwith 1sts 3 3 0 0 6 9Goodricke 2nds 4 2 0 2 4 6James 1sts 3 2 0 1 3 6Halifax 2nds 3 1 0 2 -3 3Derwent 3rds 3 0 0 3 -10 0

GROUP D

TEAM P W D L GD Pt Alcuin 1sts 3 3 0 0 7 9 Derwent 1sts 3 2 0 1 2 6Vanbrugh 2nds 4 1 1 2 -2 4Wentworth 2nds 3 1 0 2 -4 3Vanbrugh 3rds 3 0 1 2 -3 1

GROUP C

TEAM P W D L GD Pt Vanbrugh 1sts 3 3 0 0 15 9Halifax 1sts 4 3 0 1 13 7* James 2nds 3 1 0 2 -2 3Langwith 2nds 3 1 0 2 -10 3Goodricke 3rds 3 0 0 3 -16 0

* Halifax 1sts docked 2 points.

GROUP B

TEAM P W D L GD Pt Goodricke 1sts 4 4 0 0 12 12Wentworth 1sts 4 3 0 1 4 9Derwent 2nds 4 2 0 2 0 6Alcuin 2nds 4 1 0 3 -3 3James 3rds 4 0 0 4 -13 0

GROUP A

BYJOSH

MANGHAMGoals Scored Overall

COLLEGE CUP IN NUMBERS

0 Goalless Draws

4 Clean Sheets In Four Games For Goodricke

1sts

6 Hat Tricks

8 Goals Scored in One Game By Halifax

16 Goals Conceded In Three Games By Goodricke

3rds

42 Games Played

120THE TABLES

Photo by Marcus Roby

27SPORTTuesday June 8th 2010YORK VISION

THE

ABSOLUTE MADNESS

TIPSTER

ENGLAND TO WIN THE WORLD CUP

ENGLAND CRICKET TEAM TO BEAT BANGLADESH

TIPSTER'S ODDS: 4 / 5

TIPSTER'S ODDS:

ANDY MURRAY TO WIN WIMBLEDON

LONG SHOT

SURE THING

30 / 1

YORK VISION PROVIDES THE DEFINITIVE RUN DOWNOF THE COMPETITION'S CONTENDERS games against minnows of the competition couldn’t be seen as true tests of their potential. The Fax choked when faced with their first real challenge of the com-petition against Vanbrugh, and the resulting hangover from that defeat carried on into their final match, an unconvincing 2-0 win against James Seconds. The con-troversial docking of two points for illegally fielding player Jake Mundy can’t have helped morale either.

Halifax have cause to be optimis-tic though. Captain Mark Lund has arguably the most talented squad in the competition, and if he can manage to mould his col-lection of brilliant individuals into a coherent team unit, then Halifax will be a truly fearsome proposition for any team. Despite their stuttering form, Halifax will still be confident of reaching the semi-finals, where it looks likely they will come up against Alcuin in what looks likely to be the Cup’s signature match.

POTENTIAL UPSETSBefore that though, Halifax are

set to face Goodricke in the first of next week’s quarter-finals, and what may have seemed a free pass to the next round a month ago is now no certainty. Goodricke, although topping a relatively easy group, have been consistent throughout, and will take confi-dence from a defence that has yet to concede.

Halifax haven’t been the only

pre-tournament favourites to have had a tough start to this year’s College Cup. Derwent were far from impressive in their first two games, and although they showed more fluidity in their fi-nal group match, a 3-0 defeat of Vanbrugh Seconds, they know they will need to up their game if they are to reach the final stages of the competition.

Langwith, Derwent's oppo-nents in the quarters, have shone in the group stages, especially in the way they fought back in the second half against James Firsts when defeat had seemed inevita-ble. Langwith are a limited team though, and the feeling remains that they rely too heavily on talis-manic striker Bruce Starkey to re-ally make an impact in this com-petition. With possession football not their strength, defending well will be key for Langwith, espe-cially if they are to unleash the kind of rapier quick counter-at-tacks that destroyed James in the group stages. However with Star-key in bullying form, and the psy-chological bonus of knowing that few expect them to win, Langwith can be carefully optimistic about the prospect of facing Derwent in the quarter-finals.

The group stages have ensured the College Cup has lived up to the pre-tournament hype, whilst giving fans a tantalising taste of what's to come. With the serious business of the knockout stages just around the corner the excite-ment of College Cup 2010 shows no sign of letting up.

COLLEGE CUP REVIEW 2010 DECK CHAIR AT THE READY, THE TIPSTER TAKES A LOOK AT THIS SUMMER'S SPORTING

HIGHLIGHTS

IT'S BEEN only a few days since Bangladesh received a clinical beating at the hands of England: it was a result that had been set in stone before the first ball was bowled.

Bangladesh is an awful team; short on both height and talent. The Tigers face a constant battle to retain their Test status having lost an appalling 57 of their 68 matches. This isn’t going to change anytime soon. Next month when they revisit England to play in a set of three one-day internationals put your money on a 3-0 whitewashing: it’s safer than a bank!

CONTRARY TO the plethora of patriotic ad-verts gracing the small screen I’m somewhat less optimistic about the chances of England getting their hands on the Jules Rimet Trophy. Given the past form of England as the epitome of underachievement, coupled with the recent and devastating loss of Rio Ferdinand, it’s be-coming increasing difficult to believe that the forty-four years of hurt are going to be ending anytime soon.

A quick glance at some of our potential op-ponents does nothing to dispel my worries: whether it’s the strength and technical quality of the Brazil squad; the skill, flair and creativ-ity of the Spaniards or the grit and efficiency of the Germans we can hardly call our boys the tournament favourites.

I’m not writing the lads off completely, I could never do that, it’s just going to take a lit-tle bit of luck to see them progress through the oppressive knockout jungle of South Africa 2010.

PERHAPS IN another era Andy Murray may have shone. Unfortunately for the grumpy Scot while Raphael Nadal and Roger Federer continue to do battle over the top spot his search for Grand Slam silverware is going to continue unfulfilled.

Although it’s difficult to predict exactly who will emerge triumphant it’s a fair bet that it’s going to be either Nadal or Federer: the unbeatable giants of the game. Regretta-bly, despite holding the hopes of our nation on his skinny shoulders, Murray lacks both the strength and technique to pose any se-rious threat to supremacy of top two seeds and will probably leave Wimbledon with his hands empty.

TIPSTER'S ODDS: 8 / 1

TOURNAMENTTOP SCORERS

Bruce Starkey (Langwith)Ali Prince (Vanbrugh)Phil Taylor (Vanbrugh)Nick Dheir (Goodricke)Tom Ragan (Halifax)Mark Johnson (James)Dave Worsley (Wentworth)

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Photo by Marcus Roby

Photo by Marcus Roby

Photo by Daniel Gilks