The first ten minutes saw some feisty opening exchanges, with both sides exerting their physicality. A compelling watch, but it was only when the game began to settle a little that there were any meaningful chances on goal. The first real chance fell to Cambridge: Makafui Avevor fired a powerful shot across the goal on the half volley following a deflection after an Oxford challenge. Avevor was to be denied his goal, however, as Chris Gregory flung himself to his right and managed to get a hand to it in a show of excellent goalkeeping.

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Avevor continued to be a bright spot for the Light Blues as his interplay with Aaran Mehmood consistently challenged the Oxford defence on the right-hand-side and provided Cambridge with a few early goal scoring opportunities. The Light Blues, however, just lacked that real moment of quality with the final ball in their opening chances.

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The half was, nonetheless, completely dominated by Cambridge who played with real pace and width. Oxford, on the other hand, struggled to get a look-in for most of the half and were entirely overrun in midfield. Oxford’s main strength was in its defence: the Dark Blues’ physicality proved useful in shutting down Cambridge attempts in the box. 

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Nevertheless, Oxford could not stave off the Cambridge attacks forever. In the 35th minute, Cambridge got the chance they had been searching for. Avevor won the ball on the counterattack, worked the ball up the pitch beautifully with Deniz Ozer, who then placed the ball into space on the left-hand-side. Cai La Trobe-Roberts cut in, got the ball to his right foot and curled it into the far corner. A fantastic and well-deserved goal for the Light Blues: 1-0.

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Not long after, the referee pointed to the spot following a foul after a corner and provided Cambridge with a chance to double their lead. The ball was slotted into the left-hand-side of the goal by a buoyant La Trobe-Roberts. The home crowd – which had already been in high spirits – went wild. 2-0.

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Oxford were unable to make the comeback they needed after half-time, as it only took three minutes for the Light Blues to find the back of the net once again. Asa Campbell managed to get a shot off in a heavily crowded box. Gregory did well to try and deal with it, but was unable to get a full hand to it and the ball bobbled into the back of the net. 3-0.

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The scoring was not over, as La Trobe-Roberts was soon offered the opportunity to complete his hat-trick. A lazy tackle by the Oxford centre half saw the referee point to the spot once again. La Trobe-Roberts coolly slotted it into the top left corner. Gregory had no real chance.

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Oxford began to look really quite rattled, but refused to succumb to what seemed to be a foregone conclusion. An Oxford attack down the right-hand-side saw them rewarded with a penalty – much to the chagrin of the Cambridge fans, who felt it was a very soft foul. Captain Noah Fletcher sent the goalie the wrong way, and slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.

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Despite the penalty injecting the Oxford players with a bit of hope, the game soon fell into a slightly turgid rhythm. Cambridge opted to protect their lead rather than continue to play forward, and Oxford were unable to break down the Cambridge defence. Both sides played out the game, seemingly aware that the result could only go one way.

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Cambridge were the deserved winners as evidence by the 4-1 scoreline. 

 

READ MORE: Cambridge University Women’s I vs Oxford University Women’s I