URN

This year's edition of men's Varsity football was always going to be an intriguing affair. Both Uni and Trent have made names for themselves this season as hard-nosed, defensively minded sides who concentrated first and foremost on keeping clean sheets, there was little evidence that this would be a classic. The key question was which team would come out of their comfort zone and try to attack, and take the game. The answer was Uni, and their decision to twist rather than stick proved to be their undoing.

Fresh out of training in the buildup to their season finale vs Trent in the Varsity Series, Mike Timotheou and Chris Plummer of Nottingham University Football Club took the time to speak to Michael Gaffney about their hopes for the fixture. With their biggest game of the season just days away, Mike emphasised the importance of peak fitness to their preparations for the game.

Uni's preparations for this game have been rather different to those of Trent, who haven't played competitively since the end of the BUCS season. Last week the Uni boys faced the huge challenge of facing the force of Loughborough 1sts in the BUCS Cup final. Although the result wasn't ideal, both Chris and Mike agreed the team could take a lot from the experience to drive them forward to their final game.

Overall, the guys agreed they had come through a season to be proud of, beating all expectations by not only retaining the BUCS Premier League status (a notoriously difficult feat for newly promoted teams) but also achieving the incredible feat of running Loughborough all the way for the title, finishing second. Chris and Mike were hopeful that they could maintain that consistency with a win over Trent, who after all compete in the lower BUCS Midlands 1A Division.