Perth Youth Futsal
University of York Futsal
Tournament
A
PYF Select team travelled last Saturday to participate in a Futsal Tournament in
York featuring some of the top English Futsal clubs. The squad travelled more in
hope than expectation as this was a major test of their abilities against a high
calibre of opposition.
The
PYF team was in group B, containing national champions Doncaster College, and
needed to finish in the top two to progress into the semi-finals. Things got off
to a bad start in the first game against Rotherham when a deflected shot put the
Perth side a goal down. However a spirited display of courage and skill saw the
Perth players overwhelm their opponents to comfortably win by a 9-3 margin.
The
second game was against York Rye and PYF carried on from where they left off to
record an impressive 5-1 victory. Things were going far better than the team had
hoped but they were brought back down to earth in their next game against York
University when a slow start and lack of concentration gifted their opponents a
5-1 advantage midway through the first half. A tactical reshuffle saw the team
claw back the deficit to go in 5-4 down at half time. The one goal deficit
continued well into the second half when, with a minute to go, PYF were awarded
a penalty kick with the scores at 7-6 to York University. Hopes of an equalizer
were extinguished by an excellent penalty save and York rubbed salt into the
wound by breaking forward to score the decisive goal and hand the PYF team an
8-6 defeat.
At
this stage, hopes of reaching the semi-finals rested on the PYF team winning
their final match but this was a tall order as they faced the best team in
England, Doncaster University, who only a few months earlier claimed the title
of English Futsal National Champions. PYF however were undeterred and, after
surviving some early pressure, proceeded to take the lead. Much to the
astonishment of the watching spectators, the Perth team proceeded to double
their advantage and hopes were high at this point of progress into the semis.
Doncaster College, featuring an England international, were not about to lie
down and let this happen and proceeded to exert a lot of pressure on the Perth
goal. Their efforts were duly rewarded just before half time when they halved
the deficit. The Doncaster team, as well as the many spectators, were astounded
when the PYF team scored another goal early in the second half to extend their
lead. This was followed by a spell of relentless pressure from the English
champions and they thought they had overcome the obstacle when 2 well-worked
goals brought them level. At this point, the crowd were anticipating a winning
goal by Doncaster but the PYF team stunned everyone again by taking the lead for
the second time in the game. With time running out, Perth Youth hopes of making
the semi-finals were dealt a cruel blow by a late equaliser, leaving no time for
another shock. The Perth Youth Futsal team were eliminated from the tournament
but not before receiving rave reviews from the watching crowd, tournament
organisers and watching English FA officials. Doncaster College went on to win
the tournament with PYF were the only team they didn’t beat.
Photos
available in Photo Gallery.
