On Saturday 17 May, Bootham U16s made the long journey south to take on Repton School, near Derby. Repton boasts an outstanding futsal facility and a proud tradition of success in both football and futsal, making it an exciting and challenging fixture for the Bootham squad.

This was the girls’ first experience playing a full league-format game using the stop clock system, which added a new level of intensity and professionalism to the match. Despite the setback of losing two players to injury prior to the trip, the team showed great spirit and adaptability. With a reduced squad, the game offered valuable experience and preparation ahead of their upcoming tour to Italy in June.

Squad:
Heidi J, Lacey B, Erin E, Eleanor C, Hattie F, Abbie D, and Molly G.
Hannah B travelled with the team but was unable to play, great support for her teammates.

1st Half

Repton School 8 – 3 Bootham U15s

2nd Half

Repton School 10 – 5 Bootham U15s

Coach Chris shared his pride and enthusiasm after a thrilling game against Repton, praising the team’s spirit and resilience. He said, ‘That was such a good game to watch. I was so impressed by the attitude of all the girls, not one of them let us down today. Repton have some very good players and, at first, we let them play, but once we found our feet, we pretty much matched them. The physicality from the girls was probably the best we’ve ever shown, which I found really encouraging. It was the first time the girls had ever played a full stop-clock game, which is tough in itself, and to do it with only seven players made it an even more fantastic achievement.

We need games like this to learn more about ourselves, to see what we need to work on and also what we’re already doing well. This was the perfect warm-up for the Italy trip, where we’ll be facing teams of a similar standard. A huge thank you to Repton for the game, it was an amazing venue. And I’m so grateful to all the parents for making the long journey down with their daughters and giving us such great support.’

And we’ll leave you with possibly the best goal ever scored by a Bootham Academy team! As one of the ladies’ team members said, ‘The club’s future is definitely in safe hands!’