With last week’s game at home to Sunderland being cancelled it was back to league duties for Bootham Ladies with an away trip to Project Futsal Liverpool Women. Earlier in the season Bootham lost 19-2 to the same opposition, so Coach Chris was looking for a much improved performance.

Bootham were back to full strength with Charlotte Broad and Nikki Brown recalled to the line-up. Also welcomed back were Charli Goodfellow and exciting teenager Ava Worthy, getting her first taste of National League Futsal. There was also more minutes for goalkeeper Lauryn Zareba-Gilbank in her come back from serious ankle injury.

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

Substitutes: Suzy Collins, Lucy Hudson, Denva Coupland, Ellie Whittaker (c), Ava Worthy, Charli Goodfellow, Lauryn Zareba-Gilbank.

Bootham started the game confidently, moving the ball all over the court and took a well deserved lead when Charlotte Broad slammed home a well worked corner routine. Bootham extended their lead with a breakaway goal from Nikki Brown. Liverpool grabbed a goal back before Nikki Brown added her second of the half and Bootham’s third. Both teams exchanged chances with Katie Samson making several crucial saves before the end of the half, to take the teams to the break.

Half Time – Project Futsal Liverpool Women – 1 – Bootham Ladies’ Futsal Club – 3

The second half started the same as the first with Bootham in control and they extended their lead when they won the ball deep in their half before going the full length of the court for a smart second post finish from captain Ellie Whittaker. Rowan Treagus got her well deserved goal, finishing smartly after another turnover. Late on, Liverpool scored twice to set up a tense finish, but Bootham saw out the final few minutes for a well derived away win.

Full Time – Project Futsal Liverpool Women – 3 – Bootham Ladies’ Futsal Club – 5

Player Of The Match – Charlotte Broad – Liverpool have a very dangerous front player who is the league’s top scorer this season but today she got no joy out of playing against Charlotte. A masterful display or defending and stopping the opposition playing. A brilliant defending performance that helped Bootham build their win. Top performance from a top player!

After the game a delighted captain, Ellie Whittaker spoke to us and said, ‘After our game against Liverpool earlier on in the season, we were determined to give a better account of ourselves and we certainly did that! I thought that was our most complete performance ever and on another day we could have had several more goals. Charlotte was absolutely solid at the back, and Nikki and Rowan’s pace and link up was frightening at times. It was great that Lauren got some more minutes too after such a long-term injury, and Ava had her first taste of national league which is testament to the players we’ve got coming through. There’s such a good atmosphere in the squad and we’re growing with every match. We’ll be working hard in training this week to make sure we’re ready for Warrington next week, and we’ll hopefully be able to give our fans something to shout about on Saturday.’

In conversation after the game a very happy Coach Chris said, ‘Well, that was simply brilliant. I had a feeling today we could do something, but that performance was out of this world. Every single player contributed to that result and as Ellie said, I honestly think we could have won by more. After the first game against Liverpool, I was very down as we had worked so hard not to concede so many goals in a game. That was one of our aims this season, but to come back from a 19-2 defeat to beat them was a stunning turnaround.’

He continued by saying, ‘Liverpool are a top side with some fantastic young players, and last time we met they really outplayed us. This showed how far we have progressed over the season, and I think Liverpool were surprised at the performance. The last two months have shown how the players are adapting to the high press game we are asking them to perform. The pace that Nikki and Rowan have will hurt any team on a turnover, and their understanding together is just getting better and better. We knew before the game that Liverpool’s number 9 was a real threat so we asked Charlotte to try and keep her quiet, and boy, did she do a good job.’

He finished by saying, ‘We have our last home game to Warrington on Saturday and we would love to pack the place with our supporters. We have been better away from home this season and I want to change this, we need to make York a place visiting teams don’t want to come to, and we need you to come and make some noise for the players!’

Next up Bootham host Warrington in their last league game of the season. With 3rd place up for grabs why not come down to St Peter’s School from 4.30pm on Saturday 22 April and give them all your support!