Two opening day victories for our Futsal sides

Our Women's Futsal side started the weekend of victories with their 14-2 victory over Cambridge Futsal on Saturday evening, a huge well done to the whole squad! Nazif (2), Dalton (2), Packett (2), Amatulli (2), Thompson (2), Oldroyd (2), Mudd, and Heath, were the goalscorers. 

 

United opened their NFS Tier One season with an impressive 5-1 victory over York Vikings at Hartpury University. The University hosted four games across Sunday 10th September, all broadcast live on TNT Sports. An end-to-end encounter saw a clinical Maidenhead side come away with all 3 points and plenty of positives to build on for the rest of the season. 

 

The game was played at a high intensity from the first whistle, and it took just 2 minutes for Brayden Lissington to open the scoring for the Magpies. He pounced on a loose ball and poked his shot past the keeper before he had time to react – making him the club's first scorer in Tier One. 

 

Joe Huxter doubled United’s lead less than a minute later when he broke through against the on-rushing goalkeeper, Huxter won the initial battle for the ball and was left to smash into an empty net. A perfect start to life in Tier One for Maidenhead United. 

 

The frantic start to the game continued as York pulled one back through Matthew Barber with still less than five minutes played. A nice counterattack by the away side left United outnumbered in defence and Barber was free to tap in at the back post. 

 

After the goal York looked to build some momentum, they created a couple of opportunities to score an equaliser and could’ve done just before halftime. A similar move to their goal again caused problems, the ball was smashed across the front of goal and Barber was there to meet it again. However, despite his clean connection on the ball, he wasn’t able to divert it beyond Ben Lazarus in the Maidenhead goal. United went into the break 2-1 up but the game was still in the balance. 

 

The second half continued in the same way as the first finished, chances were being created at both ends. York went closest to scoring, another ball across the front of goal but no one in red was there to tap in a potential equaliser. 

 

The missed chances were ones that the Vikings would soon regret as Maidenhead went on to extend their lead and completely shift the momentum in their favour. Washington drove into the York half and sent a pass through to the far post looking for James Grant. Before it could get to Grant it was touched by a York defender beyond the goalkeeper who was left wrong-footed and couldn’t recover in time to stop the ball from rolling over the line. 

 

The scoring didn’t stop there for Maidenhead, just like with the first and second goals United’s fourth and fifth came in quick succession. Phil Lant grabbed the fourth, and a quickly taken kick-in on the right allowed Lant to curl his shot into the far top corner. A slight deflection may have helped it on its way into the goal, but no one was going to take a Tier One debut goal away from Lant. 

 

With York now having to chase the game even more they went into ‘fly goalkeeper’, where they leave their goal empty and then have five players in their attacking half of the court. This left them susceptible to conceding even more but it was a risk they had to take in order to try and get back into the game. 

 

Jacob Evans was the one to benefit from the risk that the Vikings had taken, after retrieving possession for his side he managed to wriggle free of a couple of defensive bodies before slotting calmly through the legs of the out-of-position goalkeeper. Rounding off what was a resolute performance from the Magpies and overall, a perfect start to the season. 

 

Maidenhead will aim to build on their strong start when they face Derby Futsal Club on Sunday 24th September at Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub, London.