Alfie Venencia reports from Kedleston Road
Bayem Onelum shone as Derby University won 3-1 in a competitive Men’s Football varsity fixture against University of Hertfordshire.
With plenty of suspense heading into the fierce contest between the universities, it was critical that all Derby players gave 100 per cent effort to earn bragging rights at Kedleston Road.
Early on in the half, Stephen Owusu performed a lovely little dink over Hertfordshire goalkeeper Tom Anthony but was denied by a goal-line clearance from the Herts defence.
Just a minute later, Anthony was unable to grab hold of the ball after Harry Leverett’s header hit the bar and allowed Matthew Thom to tap home from close range to make it 1-0.
A long through ball from Herts was not dealt with correctly and attacker Olly Awujo got onto the end of it and slotted it past George Allen.
Derby responded quickly and Onelum hit a curling strike from just inside the penalty area which rattled off the crossbar and was cleared quickly.
Onelum was slotted through on goal and coolly found the back of the net to restore Derby’s lead in the 69th minute which sent the supporting crowd wild.
Adam Claypole added a third just minutes later via a deflected free-kick which found the bottom corner and celebrated in-front of the home supporters.
After a 1-1 draw last year in Hertfordshire, Derby players were ecstatic at full-time after securing a terrific 3-1 result after a tremendous effort by everyone involved.
