On Saturday 19 November, Bootham Ladies’ Futsal Club – York played their fourth game of the FA Futsal Women’s Super Series North Tier 2 against Derby Futsal Club Women at the home of English Futsal, St Georges Park. It was Bootham’s second game on the road this season, and up against a Derby side looking for their first win of the season.

With late withdrawals, Coach Chris gave the captaincy to Kimberly Samson and handed first starts to Lucy Hudson and Charlotte Broad.

Starting Line-Up: Kimberly Samson (c), Katie Samson, Charlotte Broad, Suzy Collins, Lucy Hudson.

Substitutes: Elena Rago, Eleanor Walker, Denva Coupland.

Click here to see pictures from the game

Click here to see the National Futsal League’s official pictures from the game

A even start saw Derby score early but the game was far from one-sided. A flick header from Denva put Lucy clear but her thunderous shot hit the underside of the bar and stayed out. Bootham deservedly equalised when Charlotte blocked a corner and ran the length of the field to place the ball passed the Derby keeper for her second goal in as many games. For the next 10 minutes both sides had chances, with Denva, Kim and Elena all going close for Bootham. Just before the break Derby pounced on two errors to scored two quick goals.

Half Time – Derby Futsal Club Women – 3 Bootham Ladies’ Futsal Club – 1

Click here to watch the first half

The second half started with Derby on the front foot, with Bootham looking to hit them on the break.  As the second half progressed Bootham started to tire and Derby got on top. They added four goals to their first half score but Bootham did have chances, with Bootham goalkeeper Katie making several great saves. In the end Derby ran out winners but the scoreline didn’t reflect the work rate of all the Bootham players. It was a fantastic game to watch and a great advert for woman’s futsal on the best stage of them all!

Full Time – Derby Futsal Club Women – 7 Bootham Ladies’ Futsal Club – 1

Player Of The Match – Denva Coupland – We have had the pleasure of working with this young lady for over 10 years, and we know what we are going to get when she steps on the court. She never says die, always gives 100%, encourages and supports all her teammates and hates losing. Today she showed everyone one these attributes and it is a pleasure to call her one of our players.

Click here to watch the second half

Coach Chris spoke to us after the game, he said, ‘That was pretty intense, coaching futsal at the home of the Football Association, a proper bucket list moment. I thought we were brilliant as a team today. No-one let us down and we work our socks off on the biggest court in the UK. In the end we just ran out of steam, I think we needed three more players and that was a massive difference. Derby have some fantastic players and it was a pleasure watching them today. But for big parts of the game we gave as good as we got and again, that little bit of luck was missing. We are making less mistakes out of possession, we just need to be more confident going forward and learn to finish the play.’

We went on to say, ‘The frustration as a coach is knowing what we could do if we get our best players on court together. Today we were missing three players who would have been in the squad and I know the score would have been different. I’m not saying we would have won the game, but we would have been a different proposition for Derby. I know we are less than a year into this project, and we have set ourselves a five year target to be competitive in this league, but I can’t help but wonder!’

He finished by saying, ‘Four years ago I had the pleasure of studying for my UEFA B Futsal badge at St Georges Park, and if anyone had said at the time that I would be coaching a National League team here, I think I would have laughed. The pride I felt when the team walked out on to court is something I will never forget. I couldn’t believe the support we had, the families that drove all the way down from York just to watch us, was amazing. Thank you to each and everyone of them, I promise to do everything I can to make sure we can repeat this in the very near future.’