Nottingham Trent University avoided an upset against the University of Nottingham as they won 2-0 at Greenwich Avenue in the 2022 Notts Varsity series.
After a scrappy first half, it was Jack Gibson and Tom Jones who produced the fruits for Trent in a dominant performance.
The hosts were awarded a penalty two minutes into the second half which Gibson fired home; Jones then doubled Trent’s lead on the hour-mark with an instinctive finish to capitalise on poor UoN defending.
It could have been a very different story for Trent, however, when goalkeeper Ross Woolley could only stand and watch as Isaac Stones headed against the post after four minutes.
The home side had a chance of their own moments later when a swift counter-attack resulted in Gibson having possession, but Ben Harding came to the rescue for UoN with a firm tackle sending the ball out for a corner.
Despite the slow start to the derby clash, with chances falling far and few between, both goalkeepers had their reactions tested.
First Tom Cursons’ tame acrobatic effort was caught by Reuben Rabstein with some ease, then Toby Gould’s clever bit of skill saw him take on one too many players and Ross Woolley was quick off his line to gather up the loose ball.
Joel Valentin followed Prosper Keto into the referee’s book as they received yellow cards for their involvements in a scrappy first half showing from their side.
Tom Unwin received a similar fate when he recklessly brought down Cursons with a tackle that left many at Greenwich Avenue wondering whether more was worthy.
It was UoN who ended the first half on top with Stones dragging a shot wide of the post, but it was Trent who started brightest after the break.
Just two minutes into the second half a late tackle from a UoN defender brought an abrupt halt to Trent’s attack and the young referee was left with no choice but to point to the spot; Gibson made no mistake from 12 yards to put Trent ahead.
And as the two sides reached the hour-mark NTU found themselves in dreamland. A poor touch from Valentin under pressure from Gibson had the ball fall to Jones who poked home from close range to double Trent’s lead.
Unwin seemed completely unfazed by his current status as being on a yellow card as he continued to put in strong challenges against Trent.
Cursons very nearly made it 3-0 when he flicked a loose back-pass over Rabstein; the post came to the UoN keeper’s rescue.
The away side tried to cause a late frenzy when they won a corner-kick deep into stoppage time, but Woolley stood firm to pluck the ball from the air and eventually the hosts burst into scenes of jubilant celebrations.