On Saturday 4th March, Bootham Ladies’ Futsal Club – York played East Riding Futsal Club Women in the 1st Leg of the 1st Round of the new National Futsal League Women’s Cup. Their normal home venue was unavailable so they played at the new Better York Leisure Centre.

For the second game in a row Coach Chris had a full squad to pick from, with the the only changes being made to the bench with a recall for Charli Goodfellow and Lucy Hudson.

Starting Line-Up: Nikki Brown, Katie Samson, Kimberly Samson, Charlotte Broad, Rowan Treagus.

Substitutes: Eleanor Walker, Suzy Collins, Lucy Grehan-Bradley, Lucy Hudson, Denva Coupland, Ellie Whittaker (c), Charli Goodfellow.

Bootham started on the front foot and an early goal from Nikki Brown settled the nerves. East Riding were not making it easy and equalised before Nikki Brown retook the lead for Bootham. Bootham started to get on top and goals from Rowan Treagus, Charlotte Broad, Denva Coupland and Kim Samson took them clear. Two poor goals just before half time gave East Riding hope going into the second half.

Half Time – Bootham Ladies’ Futsal Club – 8 – East Riding Futsal Club Women – 3

Click here to see the images from the game.

Coach Chris asked for more composure in the second half and to control the game better. An early goal from Rowan Treagus settled Bootham down as they looked to control the game. Ellie Whittaker scored next before East Riding started to get on top. Both sides exchanged goals before Bootham finally broke free with goals from Rowan Treagus, Ellie Whittaker and Nikki Brown.

Full Time – Bootham Ladies’ Futsal Club – 16 – East Riding Futsal Club Women – 5

Click here to watch the match highlights here.

Click here to watch the first half.

Click here to watch the second half.

Player Of The Match – Rowan Treagus – A superb performance, finishing the game with 8 goals, and she is probably wondering how she didn’t get more. Her knowleadge of the game is improving week on week and her understanding of the game, both in attack and now in defence, is helping her become a top quality futsal player. Great performance and well deserved!

Captain Ellie Whittaker said after the game, ‘I thought it was a professional performance from us, we showed elements of really good futsal play and it’s nice to have a 11-goal lead going into the second leg. Some of the attacking play was fantastic, and we’re growing with every game and training session, which is great to see. The cup is a fantastic opportunity to put our club on the map, and if we play how we know we can, we’re confident of progressing. It was also fantastic to see lots of our youth players watching us today and I look forward to seeing them representing our club in the national league over the next few years!’

Coach Chris summed up the game when he spoke after, ‘The was pretty intense, we made hard work of that. We knew East Riding would be physical and come and fight. As the non-league side they really wanted to win this one and show they should have a place in the league. I thought at times we played some fantastic futsal – moved the ball quickly and accurately and made the court very big and hard to defend. When we play at pace with Rowan, Nikki, Kim and Charlotte we will cause any team problems. I was disappointed that we started to let the game become a battle, and we stopped playing futsal. Huge well done to East Riding, they played well and caused us some problems throughout the game.’

He finished by saying, ‘This is only halftime, East Riding will not roll over and die, so we need to go there in two weeks and start again as if it is 0-0. We need to approach the game in the same way and just concentrate on how we play, and not worry about the opposition.