Courtesy: Boro Futsal


Teesside Champions of Great Britain

Saturday, 13 March 2010

Teesside University were crowned British University Champions at the BUCS Futsal Championship Finals in Sheffield on Friday, despite being seconds from not qualifying in the playoffs last weekend. Teesside left it late once again to overcome defending champions UWE Hartpury with 30 seconds of extra time remaining. Robbie Bettson fired in the winner to the delight of the Teessiders, in what was a very close tactical encounter.

Teesside reached the final in emphatic style seeing off last year's runners-up Team Bath 8-0, in what was a fantastic all round team performance. It wasn't quite as straight forward getting through the quarter-final as in typical Teesside style they made hard work of it against Edge Hill who took them to extra time. Not fancying penalties in that game either, Bettson fired in the winner 30 seconds from time to set up the tie with either Loughborough or Bath.

The win comes four years after Teesside won the British University Futsal Cup in the pre-BUCS season and confirms their place as the most successful team in British University Futsal, with a semi final, a trophy (competition for 3/4 placed teams in the finals) win and two titles despite not being one of the "big" sporting universities such as Bath, Loughborough and Hartpury who dominate other sports.

Teesside coach Damon Shaw is delighted with how his team performed. “We played some excellent futsal at times and it all came together at the right moment in the semi final. To win 8-0 against such a good team is an amazing result and must have given Hartpury a warning. The final was another solid performance. We got it right tactically and were patient. We knew that we could score in the final minutes as we’ve done it so often already this season. It’s the sign of a top team.”

“This win is a massive achievement, not only because it’s the second time, but because teams like Loughborough, Bath and Hartpury have much better support, players recruited through scholarships and put money into winning these trophies. We’ve proven that with the right preparation and excellent team spirit great things can be achieved. It will spur us on for the rest of the season in the FA Futsal League with Boro and we can’t wait to go to the European Championships in Croatia.”

Mikey Roberts was named player of the tournament and picked up the individual accolade after a consistent tournament, scoring six goals. Any one of the Teesside squad could have collected that prize with everybody playing a part in the victory.

Teesside will now represent Great Britain in the European Universities Futsal Championship in Zagreb in July, while Middlesbrough's season continues on Sunday away against Sheffield. A win there could see Boro go five points clear at the top of the FA Futsal League.





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com