Match day 5 saw Bootham Ladies’ Futsal Club – York travel back to Warrington to face undefeated league leaders Cheshire Futsal Club Ladies. After two fantastic performances, Eleanor W forced herself into the starting line-up. Bootham welcomed back Lily And Hannah, but Denva missed out due to a heavy cold, so Bootham took their smallest match day squad of the season.

Bootham’s game plan was to stay in the match as much as possible. Cheshire score freely, so being compact and hard to beat was the plan for the day. Cheshire scored 2 goals inside the first 5 minutes, but Bootham battled back and chances for Hannah and Lily were nearly taken. Cheshire scored again, but on 15 minutes a great move involving Kim and Hannah, saw Lily score at the near post for her first goal of the season. Bootham lack of concentration was exposed when Cheshire scored immediately from the kick off – half time 4-1 to Cheshire.

The second half started with Cheshire adding two quick goals but Bootham really upped their play. The next 13 minutes saw the match evenly posed with Ellie, Kim, Suzy and Hannah all going close for Bootham, and Katie making several important saves in the Bootham goal. A minute of madness saw Cheshire score 3 goals inside a minute, for the game to finish 9-1 to Cheshire.

After the game Coach Chris spoke to us, ‘The scoreline really doesn’t do justice to how well we played today. Cheshire are a fantastic team to watch, they really look after the ball, and make you work hard for any possession. That said, we really did go toe to toe with them today, especially in the second half, for that 13 minute spell both sides looked equal. We played Cheshire 8 weeks ago and they really taught us a lesson. Today we had improved so much, our possession and control of the game at times matched theirs.’

He went on to praise the younger members of the team, ‘Our goal was scored when we had a 16 year old, three 17 year olds and a 19 year old on the pitch. I was so please to see the way they really upped their game today, not one of them let us down. Special mention goes to Lily and Hannah who pretty much covered every inch of the court.’

He finished by saying, ‘The score really doesn’t show how much we have improved. We still had our moments of madness, conceding 5 goals in little over a minute throughout the match, and these need looking at. I am so proud of the way we battled and stayed in the game for such a long period of time, huge credit goes to the players, they really stepped up today.

Click below to see some images from the match.