Cambridge Handball teams experience contrasting results against Islington at London Metropolitan University

The Cambridge Handball sides gave two spirited displays on their visit to the capital to face the respective Islington second teams, coming out with mixed fortunes.

The women’s team played first at the London Metropolitan University, and they were up against it from the start as dropouts meant they had only six players on the court.

The opening exchanges were measured, and despite their superior numbers it took Islington to the 10-minute mark to assert their lead at 4-1, with a lone goal from Agi Foeglein.

After this, Islington accelerated slightly with two goals in two minutes from Anneke Buelemann, but Josephine Ezeguwu scored two of her own for the visitors to keep them in the game. And Cambridge kept the momentum going with Ezeguwu continuing her scoring streak while Sam Yun Yap and Foeglein got in on the act, so much so that two minutes before half-time, the score was 12-11.

Two Islington goals in the final two minutes meant at the interval read 14-11 in favour of the home side.

Islington were fast out of the blocks in the second period, scoring three goals in two minutes, alongside another from Foeglein for Cambridge, to give them a five-goal cushion.

And while another from Yun and Foeglein took the visitors within three of the hosts, from then on Islington’s superior numbers began to show.

Ezeguwu and Foeglein continued to find the Islington net, while Victoria Rodriguez also nabbed her first goal for the club in the second half, but Islington eventually ran out the victors by 33-22.

The men’s game, meanwhile, was a much tighter and scrappier affair, although Cambridge led for the majority of the game.

By the 13-minute mark, goals from Oli Holway (2), Kevin Guy, Toby Barber, Ross Waldron helped to level the scoreline up at 6-6.

From here, Cambridge began to kick on, Alejandro Garcia finding the net twice in three minutes to complement a debut goal from Morten Rahr Nielsen, while another from Guy took the Cambridge lead to four goals.

However, Islington fought back to send the two sides into the break all square at 12 goals apiece.

The visitors did not let the Islington fightback deter them though and two goals each from Guy and Nielsen, as well as another for Holway, saw Cambridge had open up a five-goal lead.

This advantage was more-or-less maintained until the midway point of the second period, after which the visitors had some defensive troubles that allowed Islington back into the game.

With 10 minutes to go, the home side had managed to creep back into the lead at 23-22, and from there on it remained a one or two-goal affair, with Waldron, Guy, Holway, Garcia and Nielsen finding the net to keep the home side within touching distance.

Nielsen levelled the score at 27-27 in the 59th minute to make for a nervy final 60 seconds.

And with single digits left on the clock, Jacob Allard rolled the ball underneath the Islington goalkeeper to wrap up a 28-27 win.

Both sides return to action on Saturday (7 December) at Northstowe Secondary College, with the men’s side throwing off against Northampton before the women’s side follow against Oxford.