Coming after the Easter break, Bootham Academy Girls were once again back in Batley for round 5 of the West Riding Girls Futsal League. It was round three for the U11s and U14s, both looking for continued improvement in their performances.

The U11s are improving game by game and played some really good futsal in their last friendly against South Cave. With players still getting used to the format and facing tough opposition in both games, the U11s knew that nothing less than their best would be enough.

The U11 were represented by Ania G, Ivy A, Eady M, Isabella S, Beatrix P , Lily N, Mia T, Miesha D and a huge thank you, once again to Freya B for helping us out in goal.

The U14s went into the game looking to cement second place in the league, knowing that two wins would secure their position. With some of the U13s, who had struggled to make an impact in their previous match against L7 Academy, this presented the perfect opportunity to set the record straight.

The U14 were represented by Sophie C, Emily C, Isabella S, Rusne V, Maisie M, Imogen B, Jess H, Maja G, Scarlett W (GK), Annabel S and Mollie C.

With the VEO camera currently out for repair, again, we’re without our usual high-quality footage, sorry!

U11s Game 05

A fast-paced game against a strong opponent, but the girls were not phased. They battled hard and despite going a couple of goals behind managed to grab themselves a couple of goals from the ever-impressive Isabella S. Great moments of strong defending, good passes and lots of chances showed the fantastic development these girls are going through now.

Full Time: Bootham U11s 2 – 9 Huddersfield U11s

U11s Game 06

Again, the girls put in another fab performance. Some fab saves from Freya, supported by industrious defending and hard work from the girls saw us just behind after 10 minutes. Our opponents though grew into the game and scored a flurry of goals towards the end. A little more luck for us and the game could have been much closer! Goals from Isabella and Eady with a cracker!

Full Time: Bootham U11s 2 – 8 Methley U11s

U11 Final League Table

U14s Game 05

After 40 minutes of goals for the 11s, a large, but strong 14s team came up against a Methley team who have scored lots of goals against everyone. All the chances though fell to Bootham, but an inspired goalkeeper kept out several good chances for Emily C, Mollie C and Jess H. On another occasion we win but today wasn’t to be. One good strike from our opponents being the only difference.

Full Time: Bootham U14s 0 – 1 Marsden U14s

U14s Game 06 – Friendly

Rinse and repeat? A huge number of chances for Bootham up against another inspirational goalkeeping performance keeping out several good chances for Immy B and Mollie C again. Jon, the referee, said it was the best keeper performance he has ever seen and that without her Bootham win by 10. I’ll just add that maybe, just maybe we did get one…..

Full Time: Bootham U14s 0 – 0 Samba U14s

U14 League Table

Player of the Week – U11s – Lily N – We’ve all seen Lily the attacker before, but her defending today blew us all away. Blocking shots, sprinting back to help and topped off by a superb goal-line clearance. So gutted the Veo wasn’t working for everyone to see how good it was! Well done Lily, top work! 👏⚽

Player of the Week – U14s – Mollie C – If anyone deserved a goal or an assist over the two games it was Mollie. We all know how good she is on the ball and getting a shot away, but she was finding her teammates consistently too with some great passing. Well done Mollie!

Coaches Comments: Coach Michael said after the games, ‘The U11s continue to grow as a team. Take the scorelines away from today and remember the academy standard of the two teams we played. More goals, good passing and lots of great battling. Their first win in Batley isn’t too far away. We couldn’t be prouder of the effort of these girls.

For the14s, with the core of the team going to Italy it’s great to see how well they are starting to play together. With a large team we had to balance experience on the pitch but even with that, on another day we walk away with 10 goals. All the girls should be proud of how hard they worked even with the limited minutes available.‘