Brief summary by Terry Matthews

Llys Talybont has hosted many fabulous games of Korfball over the years, but last nights Inter-Cardiff derby will rank amongst the best. City were determined to overturn a home defeat from earlier in the season and the Uni were committed to showing the old lot who was still boss.

Midge opened the evening's scoring, bursting past her marker to drop in from Taff, before the Uni's star girl Grace Stimpson opened her account past Elaine.

No City game is complete at the moment without James popping one in from the half way line, and he got his in early before the Uni dragged it back again.

After the early exchanges the game was beginning to warm up the cold hall, and some passes were beginning to fizz about. In between Josh's brace (the first from range and the later off a delightful cross-court bounce pass from Taff) the Uni made the most of City sleeping with Ceri scoring under the basket from a 40-yard pass.

A tit-for-tat last few minutes saw Uni's Kristina Van Eker net from long and Elaine drop off the back to bring first half to a 6-6 conclusion.

The problem for City was simple, despite playing with some good quality and scoring from all over, the Uni where just not going to let the game get away from them. With Terry calling for calm and intelligent Korfball, he brought on Brian for the hard working Rob and soon after Harry for James, in order to add some control to the frantic pace of the game.

City claimed first blood in the second half, with Susan scoring from range on the big court. The Uni's major advantage in height was a major factor in them scoring two quick goals (Matt and Ramzi) and taking the lead for the first time in the game.

Staring at the deficit, City stepped up a gear and produced their best ten minutes of the season. Brian scored with a cheeky trick over his head at the post before Taff found his range from the deep and then set up Susan who found a way past Kristina at last, and debutant Harry Smyth burst past to score from Sian's feed.

From one up to three down in a blink prompted a shell-shocked Uni to call a time out and re-organise.

With all due credit, they came back out with a real purpose and Captain Ceri Jones exploded into life and showed his team the way. Midge scored and then missed from the spot, before the Uni continued their fiery revival. Grace was becoming more and more of a threat, and neither Elaine or Sian could completely control her as she scored one of her chances dropped over the feed.

Sian claimed revenge running in from Brian's feed but the Uni side were still hanging in there. Two more goals brought the lead back to 1 and the modest but vocal crowd where in for a cracking last few minutes.

City were desparately trying to strangle the game with experience and control, but there was always a Uni hand in the way, and interception after interception showed how much the Uni where determined not to let the game slip.

In a game where the Uni had relied on good old fashioned pace and fitness against the older City team, it was left to Midge to beat them at their own game. Her pace and stamina was too much for her helpless marker as she netted from Taff.

This was the goal the Uni admitted broke them, and then the game was put beyond doubt as Harry netted from the deep, and Midge added the gloss with her forth and a hat-trick of running in's from Josh.

The final whistle was met by congratulations all round as both teams acknowledged the efforts of the other in a game played in a fantastic spirit.

The Uni will go to the BUSA Finals with a top-notch performance under their belts and confidence high, while City will look to claim revenge against Bristol Uni away and finish the league in dominant fashion.

Pictures supplied by Holly

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