Sam Bunce
University of Nottingham’s Men’s Football 1’s will take on Stirling 1’s in Loughborough at BUCS Big Wednesday in search of their maiden National Championship crown.
The Green and Gold have cemented themselves amongst the elite in BUCS Men’s Football over the last two seasons with silverware in touching distance again.
Last season, they endured a narrow 1-0 loss to Loughborough in their first ever appearance at the National Championship finals alongside the women’s team, who also have the opportunity to avenge their defeat in last term’s final.
UoN picked themselves up from the canvas after the loss that left them crestfallen and valiantly responded with a convincing victory over arch-rivals Nottingham Trent in the return of the Varsity fixture to Notts County’s Meadow Lane.
At first, it seemed a tall order to emulate the successes of last season, which eclipsed the achievements of the less fruitful years in past BUCS campaigns. However, UoN sat perched at the summit of the Premier North division at the end of the calendar year and the seeds for further success seemed planted.
Their first meeting with Wednesday’s opponents, Stirling, was closely contested, but UoN emerged victorious in November as they continued their dominance in the opening months this season.
They haven’t waltzed their way into the finals, though, with the most prestigious prize in BUCS football up for grabs. Southern sides Exeter and Hartpury raised their level and made UoN toil to advance, with both matches decided by one-goal margins on route to the final.
Despite UoN’s commendable season, Stirling’s form and historically successful seasons at the height of BUCS football has made them a persistently tricky customer and fierce rival. In a crunch tie for both sides in January to decide the Premier North title, Stirling trounced the Green and Gold 5-1 in Scotland to impressively claim their fifth league title in six seasons.
They pipped UoN to the title on head-to-head record, and breezed past Cardiff Met at home to book their spot in the cup final to ultimately meet the side they beat in the semi-finals of the National Championships in the 22/23 campaign.
Finals and big occasions are not for the faint-hearted, and in front of an expectant bumper crowd in Loughborough, UoN must rise to the task.
They have fallen twice when the pressure has mounted, and Stirling will be confident to replicate the thrashing they inflicted just two months ago.
This time, the Scottish side are the ones who have to travel and make the near 11-hour round trip to the Midlands, but plans to ensure they arrive fresh for the final are bound to have been thought through. Any flicker of complacency, though, will be capitalised on by UoN, who surely have the incentive to make real history by getting over the line for the first time.
The manager has had plenty of time to ponder how to approach a familiar and testing opponent, and decide on the best approach for curing the heartbreak of their tantalisingly close title tilt.
The Green and Gold faithful will be watching on in anticipation of both the Men’s and Women’s, who are bidding to lift their National Championship trophies.
The football programme is scaling new heights at the University of Nottingham, and it might just be about time that Men’s Football reaps the rewards and brings it home to add to the overflowing cabinet of BUCS silverware the Green and Gold boast.
Match Details
Where? Loughborough University Stadium
When? Wednesday 25th March, 4:30pm
How to watch? Live on BUCS YouTube as part of Big Wednesday coverage
Sam Bunce
Featured image courtesy of UoN Sport. No changes were made to this image.
In article Image 1 courtesy of UoN Sport. No changes were made to this image.
In article Image 2 courtesy of UoN Sport. No changes were made to this image
