URN

The Capital Fm arena was the setting of this years opening fixture of the charity varsity fixture – Ice hockey. Nottingham Uni took on their Trent counterparts in front of an electric atmosphere fuelled by a crowd of over 8,000. URN were there to cover it from start to finish.

The game started at a frantic pace, however it was UNI who looked the most nervous out of the two sides. The UNI players struggled to deal with their nerves in the early stages and were guilty of ill discipline – Simon Bell being set to the bin early for tripping. This man advantage for Trent, known as a powerplay, was exploited perfectly as the men in pink scored just a few moments later.

This should have warned as a warning sign to the UNI players, but it didn’t moments later Bradshaw was sent to the bin for ill discipline and again Trent exploited their man advantage – Rathbone the scorer assisted by the impressive Jose Leon.

Two goals down early, the Uni team had their first early spell of any possession half way through the first period, even managing to create some of their own chances. However it was Trent who scored next O’Flaherty scoring a counter attack.

Soon it will be time to do it all over again; gossip columns, transfer talk and of course Jim White and his yellow tie will welcome in the New Year and the January transfer window. There is somewhat an added feeling of anticipation surrounding this window however, as the Premier League title race is still wide open and with unsettled world-class talent across Europe potentially coming onto on the market, there might be no better time to splash the cash. The summer saw high profile acquisitions at Manchester City and Tottenham, yet problems still yet to be addressed at Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. As a result this piece will focus on these teams to establish quite how influential this window could be for them and how this might determine who lifts the title in May.

Wednesday 19th June saw the URN Sport Team join forces with NU2Sport, the University programme aimed at increasing participation in all forms of sport by students and staff alike, to host a Sports Day at University Park Sports Centre. We invited teams to enter into our competition to win VIP tickets for Crisis nightclub, as well as enjoy the sunshine, sample some ice cream, and of course make the most of the activities on offer. Sports Editor Michael Gaffney explained the focus and purpose of the event.

If Forest’s story this season was a Hollywood film script, studios would have rejected it for being too unbelievable. A foreign takeover, four different managers, and still making a last-ditch tilt at the playoffs just seems like too much drama to pack into only 12 months. But as history has shown before, Forest are a team with a habit for achieving the impossible. And as the team’s playoff push to the very last day of the season showed, this term they nearly did just that.

Since Owen, Heskey and even Crouch, the number 9 shirt for England has been somewhat up for grabs for the best part of 3 years, and although strikers such as Bent, Carroll, Welbeck and Defoe have taken up the role, none have cemented their place. With Rooney playing deeper and deeper into England’s midfield Roy Hodgson’s side will need to tie down its striking options sooner rather than later as the 2014 World Cup approaches. Although their place is not yet secured, England will be expected to qualify, but with the team beginning to rely on Lampard for important goals, who may not even be in the international picture in a year’s time, the forward problem is potentially one of England’s greatest worries. This report will systematically review the options available to Hodgson in an attempt to cast some light on who should be ‘banging them in’ for England by next summer.

Jermaine Defoe – The Safe Option