Maidenhead United Futsal Women’s First Team warmed up for their new campaign in the FA National Futsal series Tier 2 South at the recent Summer Cup tournament hosted by Southampton Aztecs. United finished in eighth place overall.
The Magpies started with a 1-0 defeat against Rise Futsal, the reigning champions of England. Thereafter their results were:
• vs Bucks - won 4-3
• vs Maltese side Birkirkara - Drew 2-2
• vs Southampton Aztecs Reds - Lost 0-1
• vs Bootham - Drew 2-2, lost in shoot-out
• vs MK Mavericks - Drew 1-1, lost in shoot-out
United’s Lucindha Lawson - who also represents England’s Deaf Futsal side - was pleased with how the day went: “We did pretty well overall! It was a really useful pre-season tournament for us. We finished 8th.”
Lucindha continued: “The first game was against Rise, the English champions, and I thought we defended really well to only lose 1–0. After that match, our coach had to leave, so we played the rest of the tournament without a coach. We also only had six players available, so just one substitute throughout the day. We responded really well in the second game and beat Bucks 4–3. Rachel Kelly scored an absolute rocket, which was probably the moment of the game! Against Birkirkara, who had travelled over from Malta, we felt we could have dominated the game more, but fair play to them and we took the point from a 2–2 draw.”
“The defeat against Aztecs Red was disappointing, but afterwards we discussed different scenarios as a team, particularly what we should do when we were behind. We then put that into practice against Bootham and it worked really well. Against Bootham, we were still behind with around 20 seconds remaining. Rather than accepting the defeat, we committed to attacking and pushed for the equaliser. It paid off, with Sophie scoring the equaliser in the final seconds to make it 2–2. It was a great example of one of the scenarios we had discussed as a team after the previous game. We then went into a penalty shoot-out, which we unfortunately lost.”
“There were plenty of positives, but also areas we know we need to improve. It was great preparation for pre-season and gave us a good indication of where we are as a team. We’re now focusing on regaining our fitness during pre-season and looking forward to welcoming a new coach. We’ll be ready for the 2026/27 season!”
United’s squad for the tournament: (Back Row, Left to Right) Sophia Richardson-Hughes, Rachel Kelly, Megan Packett, (Front Row, Left to Right) Chrissy Nazif, Téa Oldroyd, Lucindha Lawson.
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