Netball 2nds crashed out of the BUCS Northern Conference Cup  in the opening round after losing 39-45 to Chester 2nds at Foster Sports Centre.

The game was delayed for 15 minutes due to a leak in the roof, which could have jeopardised the game being played altogether. After both teams were satisfied that the problem had been solved, the game eventually got underway.

In the first quarter of the game, Chester marginally edged the game with scoring and possession. However, the UCLan Wing Attack made an impact on the game as they linked with goal attack Robinson to cause the Chester defence a myriad of problems. Both teams wasted a plethora of chances to gain the upper hand.

The second half saw an unstoppable UCLan backline; that yielded few opportunities for the visiting attack. Gladwin- the home side’s wing defence- pulled off a series of blocks to stop Chester breaking towards the goal and turnover possession for UCLan.  Kerr- the wing defence- was also influential in stemming the tide of Chester points.

The two evenly-matched sides had little to separate them after two quarters; both in terms of points and quality all around the court.

The third and fourth halves saw Chester step up a gear and easily breaking through the defence of their tiring opponents almost at will.   The UCLan defence had been given severe examination in the second quarter and their exertions had caught up with them.  A burnt-out defence had no answer to Chester, who stormed through the committed UCLan defence for the win. UCLan, for all their hard work, had only a couple of dropballs to show for their efforts.

By Jane Parry

Women’s 1sts suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Liverpool University in their first home fixture of the season.

The home side failed to cope with the strong counter attacking and precise finishing shown by the opposition.

Liverpool forced UCLan onto the back foot moments into the first quarter, when a personal foul gifted a penalty throw to the visitors who didn’t hesitate to open the scoring.

UCLan were quick to respond though when centre Emma Humfrey put the home side on the score sheet with a mid range effort.

Craig Wright’s team soon slipped behind again but were rewarded with a penalty throw of their own, which although missed, was followed up on the rebound by the UCLan centre and left the home side sitting a point behind at 5-6.

Liverpool were quick to dominate possession though and proved to be threatening on the counter attack, although Humfrey looked to keep UCLan in the game.

The first quarter favoured the visitors with a 7-12 lead.

A quick succession of penalty shots stretched Liverpool’s lead as they began to find their momentum before the game was stopped momentarily, after a leak from the roof raised concerns.

The disruption did not faze the team who continued with their momentum, scoring a succession of points going into the halfway stage with a staggering 9-25 lead.

Despite the heavy margin UCLan looked to narrow the gap when Nina Efraimidoy drew back points.

UCLan squandered a series of opportunities which proved costly as Liverpool continued to net a flurry of chances to further increase their lead.

Jess Deane looked to reduce UCLan’s deficit scoring four points before the referee sounded the whistle to signal the end of the third quarter.

The crowd’s efforts to lift the team were quickly drowned out as the visitors continued their consistency in finding the basket.

A late consolation goal from UCLan was not enough to prevent a heavy defeat.

By Abby East

The Men’s Rugby Union first team maintained their 100% start to the season with an impressive 23-0 victory at home to Liverpool John Moores University. The result was a fair reflection on a game that UCLan dominated and in the end, a game in which they could have scored more points.

After a scrappy opening ten minutes where both teams struggled to get a stranglehold on the match, it was UCLan who opened the scoring with a try from Shaun Taylor. The move started with quick play and good hands from the UCLan backs and when the ball came to Taylor, he crashed through the Liverpool defence to put the home side ahead. Ben Marshall added the conversion to give UCLan a 7-0 lead with just twelve minutes on the clock.

UCLan had chances to further increase their lead, namely a Marshall try that was disallowed for a forward pass and a penalty by the same player that dropped a few yards short. The home side were visibly stepping up the pressure and forcing more errors out of the visitors and on 24 minutes, a misplaced pass from the Liverpool centre found Harry Redwick but he couldn’t convert the chance.

On the half hour mark though, UCLan extended their lead. As the referee played advantage to the home side after a high tackle from a Liverpool forward, the ball came back to James Smith, who slotted the ball through the posts for another three points.

Straight from the restart, UCLan moved further away from the visitors with their and Shaun Taylor’s second try of the afternoon. Once again the move started with a good interchange between the backs Daniel Scott and Patrick James and as the ball was spun out wide to Taylor, he jinked through three tackles and crashed over the line. Marshall missed the conversion but UCLan extended their lead to 15-0.

Five minutes before half time, the home side all but killed the game off. Patrick James broke through a gap in the Liverpool defence and sent the ball wide to Marshall who went over in the corner. The try scorer missed the conversion but had given his side a 20-0 half time lead.

After a quiet start to the second half where both sides were making mistakes, UCLan stretched their lead with another Marshall penalty. A high tackle on Redwick by a Liverpool forward left Marshall with the simple job of scoring from in front of the posts and giving the home side a 23-0 lead.

The remainder of the match passed without too much event as UCLan seemed content to hold onto their lead and Liverpool were happy to escape without more damage being inflicted. As the full time whistle blew, UCLan had recorded an emphatic victory over one of the more fancied teams in the league.

After the match, a delighted UCLan captain Jack Walker said: “We are really pleased with the result as Liverpool are one of the better teams in the league this season and we are still unbeaten. We did switch off in the second half for a while and our fitness faltered slightly but we will work on that and it will get better over the season. I was impressed with all the players today but Harry Redwick and Daniel Scott really stood out for me.”

By Ashley Lambell

The Men’s tennis 1^sts lost out to Bangor 10-2 in their second match of the season.

After an impressive 12-0 win in the opener, UCLan seemed to struggle without regular Number two James West.

The scoreline did not tell the full story as UCLan put up a brave fight, taking three of the five rubbers to three sets.  

The number one doubles pairing of Mike Austin and Dave Steers narrowly lost out in the opening match of the tie 6-3, 2-6, 10-8.

Jake Grinsill and Andy Jones went down to the other Bangor doubles pairing 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5).

Team talisman Austin notched up the only points for the side as he eased to a 6-4, 6-2 victory which never looked in doubt. This brought the score to 4-2 with the other three singles still in play.

Grinsill was defeated at number two despite a promising start as he took the first set 6-4. A comeback from his Bangor counterpart soon extinguished any hope as he rallied to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-2.

It was a similar story at number three for the UCLan team with Jones taking the first set 6-3. Jones looked to be playing well and had the better of the opening exchanges, but was then pegged back in the second set losing it 6-1. Jones’ opponent proved too strong in the end, taking the final set 6-1 to guarantee the Welsh side victory.

Steers stepped up to make his first-team debut at number four with West absent. Steers put in a brave effort but went down 6-2,6-0 in the end.

Captain Austin will be keen to welcome back West for the next match in an attempt to get the season back on track.

UCLan second team continued their impressive start to the campaign with a 10-2 victory over Keele University.

Captain Andrew Hoskins led by example cruising to a 6-1, 6-4 victory with Matt Maloney following in similar fashion with a 6-2, 6-1 victory.

Ash Phillips lost out at number three 6-4, 6-1 giving Keele the only two points they gained in the match.

Tom Allen came through a tough match winning in the third set 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 while Hoskins teamed up with Maloney and Phillips with Allen to wrap up the doubles and the points for the second team.

By Jake Grinsill

India vs Australia cartoon cricket- Find out why cartoon Tendulkar is cupping his ‘nads…

Lorenzo MotoGP- See Lorenzo’s journey from a boy to a man to the champion.

Glentoran wonderstrike- Was this goal total class, or luck of the Irish?

Korean Grand Prix- Warning: Circuit may not resemble this video next Sunday.

Federer hitting a ball off a man’s head. Is it real? Is it fake? Federer perfectly demonstrates the precision necessary to dominate tennis. Click here to watch. 

Other clips:

Icelandic Celebrations: Iceland’s Stjarnan FC celebrate goals a little differently. Here are all their famous celebrations so far.

Spiderman? A flying catch is always impressive; especially when you are 15ft in the air and making eye contact with the crowd. Watch it here.

Spanish trick penalty: You can watch this all day and still be asking; just how does he do it?

Students are being warned to be wary of a fraudulent email circulating online.

The scam email claims to be Student Finance England, the online service for the Student Loans Company.

The email falsely directs students to enter their personal and financial details under false pretences. Students are inclined to reply to the message with their details as the email states that they will not receive payment otherwise.

Students have been warned to be wary of such email and not to reply if they are in any doubt of the legitimacy of the email.

The subject of the email reads “’Urgent Verify Payment Details” but students are advised to delete it straight away.

A Student Loans Company spokesman said:  “If you receive an email which you believe may be a phishing email from the Student Loans Company or Student Finance England, please email security@slc.co.uk.

“Anyone who has already given their details should change their account password as soon as possible.

“The Student Loans Company and Student Finance England will never ask customers to confirm bank details via email.

“We monitor these emails and any activity is taken down by the ISP/domain registrars as quickly as possible.

“Our information security team monitors phishing emails and alerts customers to any activity that may affect them through the Online Security section of our website (http://www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance).”

UCLan Student’s Union President, Michael Palmer, said the scam email is disgraceful.

“Someone somewhere has jumped on the vulnerability of students following last year’s finance catastrophe.

“The emails are very similar to the authentic ones sent out by Student Finance England (SFE). My advice to students who receive anything in relation to the Student Loans Company (SLC) or SFE is to contact them and ask SFE to verify the email over the phone.”

The link in the email appears genuine, but an alternative hidden address is revealed after being clicked on.

Lancashire’s Head of Trading Standards, Paul Noone explains that students should be wary of the emails and other types of fraud.

“These conmen are very devious and it is easy to be taken in by their patter. Anyone receiving suspicious emails of this kind should delete them immediately without even opening them,” he said.

“Scams are not limited to emails – they come in a variety of forms including telephone, postal mail, text message and even on the doorstep. If in any doubt do not respond.

“Specific on line security advice including information relating to this scam can be found at the genuine webpage of Student Finance England by visiting www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk.

County Councillor and Lancashire County Council’s deputy leader, Albert Atkinson, added: “This is a particularly worrying time for students as they wait to finalise their arrangements for going to university; the last thing they need is to be caught out by scams of this nature.”

Any UCLan student who thinks that they may have been affected by the Student Loans Company scam email should seek advice at the UCLan Student’s Union Advice Centre.

The Harris Bursary Fund, Rosemere Cancer Foundation, Epilepsy Action and Space Multi Sensory Centre; all four are fantastic causes. What do they have in common? UCLan is throwing them all fundraisers.

Continue Reading

A new scheme means UCLan students are now able to use an library across the country.

The new partnership agreement with the University and Lancashire County Council named LancaShare, will entitle students and staff at UCLan to free, automatic, full membership of Lancashire County Council’s Library and Information Services.

Continue Reading

Students around the country have been getting involved with their local communities as part of Student Volunteering Week.

The week is organised by Volunteering England and seeks to raise the profile of student volunteering.

Continue Reading