On Saturday 20 April Bootham Ladies Futsal Club were invited to enter the inaugural Advent Plastering Futsal Cup in Liverpool against sides from Bolton, Liverpool and Afrimeripean from Ireland. Games were 15 minutes straight through, with normal futsal rules.

Bootham were represented by Ellie Whittaker (C), Jess Baker, Rowan Treagus, Lauryn Zareba, Suzy Collins, Ruby Shaw, Izabella Fernandes, Kim Samson, Ava Worthy and Natasha Eustance.

Game 1 – Bolton

Bolton have just been crowed as Tier 1 season league winners, so we knew the game was going to be hard. A great start saw a brilliant move finished off by Shaw at the second post. Bolton equalised immediately but a long-range lob from Eustance saw Bootham retake the lead. Two goals from Bolton saw them take the victory but a great performance from Bootham to start the day.

Final score – Bootham Ladies Futsal 2 – Bolton 3

Game 2 – Project Futsal White

In a game that Bootham would like to forget, Liverpool pretty much scored with every shot they took. Poor defending and individual errors saw the game run away from Bootham in the first 5 minutes. They did rally late on and scored a consolation goal from Samson with the last kick of the game.

Final score – Bootham Ladies Futsal 1 – Project Futsal White 6

Game 3 – Afrimeripean

In a much-improved performance Bootham went head-to-head with the Afrimeripean. They created good chances for Treagus, Baker and Shaw but couldn’t force a goal. Late in the game a rebound from goalkeeper Zareba bounced up and hit Collins in the face. Her reaction was to try and protect herself and the ball struck her arm, and the referee gave a penalty, an unfortunate decision, which they converted.

Final score – Bootham Ladies Futsal 0 – Afrimeripean 1

Game 4 – Project Futsal Blue

Looking for that first win, Bootham scored within the first 15 seconds when Treagus robbed the Liverpool player and scored low to the goalkeepers left. Shaw nearly added a second from in front, but individual error cost Bootham again and late goals from Liverpool saw them run out comfortable winners.

Final score – Bootham Ladies Futsal 1 – Project Futsal White 3

Head coach Chris spoke to us after the tournament and said, ‘It was important to play in this tournament as we have no league games to play before the National Plate Final at the end of May, and we need to try and stay match fit. We played exceptionally well again Bolton and once again looked very competitive against them. The other games were frustrating with once again individual errors being punished. I thought the penalty decision against Suzy was very harsh, I’m not sure what she is supposed to do when protecting her face. All this said, everyone got a good run out and we made changes in games we would not normally do, so overall I am very pleased. Congratulations to Bolton on the overall win and huge thank you to all the other teams for making us well very welcome.’

Here are some images from the day: