Courtesy: Middlesbrough Futsal Club Web Site


Teesside on top, again!

Friday, 16 March 2012

TEESSIDE University Futsal Club were crowned British University champions for the third time on Thursday in Sheffield and cemented their place as the most successful university side in the country.

The team from the north went into the finals as favourites, having come through a group with both of last year's finalists and having won the title two years ago, but the likes of Team Bath, Loughborough and Brighton all fancied their chances.

Teesside opened up the tournament against previous winners and runners-up Hartpury. The two universities met in the final in 2010, when Teesside won 2-1 with 30 seconds on the clock and it was a similar result this year as Teesside won by one goal in a nervy 4-3 win. Brighton, the other top seeds in the group won 8-1 against Lincoln meaning Teesside had to do better against Lincoln in the second group game.

With Brighton winning 3-1 against Hartpury, and a couple of lengthy stoppages in the match versus Lincoln meant that Teesside knew an 8 goal win would put them on top of the group going into the final group game against Brighton. At 3-2 at the break, it wasn't looking likely and even with 30 seconds on the clock, Teesside needed two goals. Remarkably they managed it and took the advantage going into the final group match, knowing a draw would be enough to reach the final.

The result came at a cost with Mikey Roberts spending four hours in hospital with a suspected dislocated back virtually ruling him out of the rest of the championship.

The news was better than first thought and captain Roberts played a few minutes in the game against Brighton, which was as dramatic as semi finals come.

Teesside trailed at half time 3-1, but an inspirational performance from Marc Caballeria with a second half hattrick turned the game on its head to complete an amazing comeback.

That set up a finale with Team Bath, aiming for their first BUCS title, while Teesside were gunning for their third. Bath came through a strong group knocking out Loughborough and Sheffield Hallam - the only team to beat Teesside this season - and will have fancied their chances against the weakened Teessiders.

But a miraculous recovery from Mikey Roberts gave Teesside a lift. It was BUCS veteran, Jason Kilbride, playing in his 5th championship, who gave his side the lead with a sublime turn and shot that deflected past Jose Lima inside the opening few minutes. Bath then equalised when a shot deflected off the England international and beyond Sergi Garcia in the Teesside goal. Mikey Roberts, making a brief cameo appearance then exhanged passes with Raul Casado Garcia before slotting home neatly to give Teesside the lead at the break.

Bath then got lucky again early in the second half with a deflected shot from the left that trickled under Garcia. Bulmer then turned on the style with two goals in the second half to win the title for Teesside. They allowed Bath a consolation when Raul Garcia cleared into Yilmaz who slotted home, but the four goals were enough to bring the trophy home for the Teessiders.


Damon Shaw, Manager
"This was by far the most difficult title to win. We came in as favourites and lived up to the expectations. The standard has grown massively in the six years since it started and any one of the top four could have won it - all the semis and final were won by one goal, which shows it could have gone any way. It's unbelievable that we've won three titles in six years, plus a trophy and two semi finals when we are such a small university in terms of sport compared to the others there. All but two of the players are now leaving so we have to start from scratch next season, but they've gone out with a bang and thoroughly deserve it."




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