University of Liverpool Women rally to earn impressive comeback win over University of Manchester Women

A University Women Match Report...

University of Liverpool Women took a huge stride towards second place in the Women’s University division by overcoming their nearest challengers, University of Manchester Women.

The visitors from Manchester started quickly and overwhelmed Liverpool with speedy play and punishing defence, forcing their hosts into a series of errors that eventually led to the first try from Nadia Abdulkadir. Che Carranza Escudero added what would be her only conversion of the day in tricky, blustery conditions.

Manchester stretched their lead to 10-0 soon after. Liverpool were outnumbered 3-to-1 on their right side of defence and Seyonne Dalley took advantage to score the try, despite the efforts of the converging Liverpool defenders.

After taking a battering from the the wind and their opponents for 20 minutes, Liverpool’s Natalia Mia took charge and produced a jinking short-side play to bamboozle the Manchester defence and get her team on the board. Victoria Lynch was unable to convert the 4 points into 6, and was on her own personal mission to land a kick from the most acute of angles.

The subsequent kick-off deceived Liverpool and Manchester were able to regain possession immediately. The Yellows advanced up the pitch, and Abdulkadir made the home side pay. The ball was sent right and she bulldozed 3 Liverpool defenders to get her second score of the game.

In danger of letting the game slip away from them, Liverpool gave themselves a glimmer of hope on the brink of half-time. Mia once again claimed the ball from dummy-half and surged across the pitch, outpacing the Manchester defence to score on the referee’s whistle.

HT: University of Liverpool Women 8-14 University of Manchester Women

The score on half-time appeared to invigorate Liverpool as they came out of the traps fast in the second-half, crossing the try line through Mia just moments after the restart. However, the #7 was denied by the referee - a double movement was the call.

Momentum was firmly with the hosts midway through the second half when Lynch produced an incredible 40-20 kick that Manchester failed to deal with. Mia, beginning to stamp her authority on the game with impressive leadership and galloping runs, stepped into dummy-half and once again travelled the entire width of the pitch from right to left before touching down to score and reduce the deficit to just 2 points.

Manchester were struggling to live with the pressure being applied by Liverpool’s renewed attacking vigour, and their defence was breached once more. Lynch powered over on 60 minutes to give her team the lead for the first time in the game.

With the game on a knife-edge going into the final 10 minutes, Manchester regrouped and displayed a resilience in the face of an onslaught of Liverpool attacks. Desperate defence kept Liverpool out on a number of occasions, but they were caught napping at the play-the-ball as Clara Morgan scooped the ball up and dotted down unchallenged - even Morgan was visibly shocked by the ease in which she was able to score.

The biggest cheer of the day came when Lynch was finally successful with her conversion attempt from the left, edging Liverpool to a two-score lead and ahead by 8 points.

Manchester were not done yet, however. They worked an overload on the left and had Liverpool scrambling in defence. The visitors looked like they had blown a gilt-edged chance, but Lucy McKey rescued the play to get Manchester’s first try since the 20th minute, and ensure an exciting end to a gripping contest.

That was to be the last action of the game as Liverpool held on to complete a fantastic comeback and secure their third win in a row, a win that all but confirmed a second-place finish.

FT: University of Liverpool Women 22-18 University of Manchester Women

University of Liverpool Women:

1. Clara Morgan 2. Aggie Logan 3. Abi Cheevers 4. Lucia Bullock 5. Kerry Thurston 6. Manon Melville 7. Natalia Mia (C) 8. Ellie Holmes 9. Ellie Horsley 10. Lucia Greensit 11. Kara Lewthwaite 12. Abigail Clarkson 13. Maddie Windred 14. Niamh Waterworth 15. Sofia Godwin 16. Lucy Cowper 17. Sienna Harvey 18. Clare Bamford 19. Victoria Lynch 20. Aminata Diawara

University of Manchester Women:

1. Niamh Somers 2. Scarlett Kelly 3. Che Carranza Escudero 4. Iona Sellwood 5. Nadia Abdulkadir 6. MJ Jones 7. Clare Timmins (C) 8. Seyonne Dalley 9. Fatin Najwa Fadzli 10. Justina Odusanya 11. Bella Murray 12. Katie Swindell 13. Izzy Morgan 14. Lucy McKey 15. Hannah Mbogua 16. Lydia Woodhouse

By Patrick Bratin