On Saturday 13 April 2019, Bootham Futsal Club U16s made the long trip down to Birmingham for the FA Youth Futsal Cup.

The games were 16 minutes straight through with a constant clock. Bootham were represented by:A

Katie S, Kimberly S, Denva C, Chloe H, Tegan K, Mia E, Drew S, Lily S, Ellie S

Game 1 – Lads Club Vixens – Bootham got off to the perfect start with Tegan scoring in the first minute. A free kick from Denva was played wide to Mia, and Tegan swept the ball in at the far post. In a dominate performance, Bootham could easily have added more, with Kimberly, Denva, Mia and Ellie all going close. Bootham held out to win 1-0

Game 2 – AFC Wimbledon – A tough game against last year’s winners saw Bootham fall behind in the first few seconds. Bootham came storming back and played some lovely futsal, with Chloe back to her brilliant best, Drew defending brilliantly and Katie making some fantastic saves. Again Bootham had chances to draw level through Ellie S, Tegan and Lily S, but ultimately lost 1-0.

Game 3 – Cheltenham Town Ladies – As the table stood, any of the 4 teams could still qualify for the finals at the start of the final games. Bootham knew a win would put them through! Unfortunately it was not their day, and they fell behind again in the first few seconds. For the next 8 minutes Bootham hammered at the opposition’s goal with Denva, Tegan and Mia all going close. In the last 6 minutes Bootham pushed forward to try and get the win and got caught out on the counter. The final score of 5-0 really didn’t reflect the game.

In conversation afterwards, Coach Chris said ‘Wow, that was so close today. To be in with a chance of the National Finals with one game to go was exactly what we had dream of. I am so pleased for Tegan to score, the celebration showed exactly what it meant to her! We didn’t get that bit of luck you need today and results really didn’t reflect how well we played.’

He finished with, ‘In my opinion we played the best futsal of any of the teams today. The way we took the ball from our keeper, passed it around the court and caused the opposition problems was amazing. We slowed the games down and played at our own pace and on another day, with that bit of luck, we would have scored more goals. The support from the parents was fantastic and Suzy and I are so very proud of each and every player today, they simply couldn’t have given more.’